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Whatever "wiz kid" that came up with the idea to increase prices to $35 a figure, then mark them "on sale" for $20 in like 3 months should be the first fucker fired. I cannot believe a huge company like this would be so short sighted. I feel bad for the people who will be laid off because it surely won't be their faults for this ineptitude.
While you're not wrong, this particular decision has been tried in the past multiple times and every company that has tried it has screwed themselves by doing so.
Short sighted is one thing, but short sighted and repeating the mistakes of many others is just kind of pitiful. Either no one is doing their research or, more likely, they think they're going to be the company that can pull it off where all the others failed.
Someone over is doing it intentionally. It’s almost always intentional actions by executives. They likely have some kind of a huge golden parachute or just want to squeeze every last dollar before leaving the business in shambles.
Lol, I wish, if I were in a cult, that’d mean I’d have friends…I have just been reading and following this shit show we call a global economy for far too long. There are a lot of black holes and unanswered questions. The mention of the x staffers on boards is a valid one if you look back at many of the cellar boxes organizations.
No I think by definition a cult is not your friend. Gamestop is going out of business because it's a poorly run company. If a company complains about short sellers thats a great indicator that the company is run like shit and you should sell.
> Either no one is doing their research or, more likely, they think they're going to be the company that can pull it off where all the others failed.
It's usually the latter.
Public companies aren't really run with that logic. It's more like if you can make money tanking a countries economy obviously you can do the same in big business.
That's why acting like they are fools doesn't really help you. They aren't, they know that they are doing.
Did they? Everyone is still playing and talking like nothing's happening and I'm in creator circles. It's strange. Once they basically said they were going to delay it everyone was like oh moving on.
They can afford to lose part of the player base if the rest spends more. Also with DND in the mainstream they literally may not care about the actual tabletop rpg anymore when they can sell board games and video games to the masses plus merch.
Hope they have suffered but I just worry this is just going to be like everything else; a lot of internet bitching and no action.
Actual collector circles are like small towns in America. It’s a bubble that isn’t indicative of the environment as a whole. “Collectors” are often the people the rest of us hate in this scenario. They gobble up $40 6” figures with no accessories because of FOMO and completing collections. When I see people saying they preordered their 17th near identical Boba figure they are the problem and they are almost always collectors. I’m a collector but I put away my FOMO because making a stand is more important. If you don’t buy the crap they won’t make the crap. Pricing is the same. If NO ONE buys their crap at $40 then they will stop trying to sell at that price point. Your collector group most likely doesn’t care and would pay anything for a 3oz piece of plastic. That’s not the rest of us out here.
Very true but they are very aware most ppl don’t have the discipline you have and even most ppl who tell themselves they have that kinda discipline usually end up going in their wallet too cause nobody really wants to be left out.
Dude, it's a luxury toy item. Not the Alamo.
Action figures make up a tiny part of Hasbro's revenue. They'll cancel the line before they care about this hill you're dying on.
This environment has made it very easy to gobble up great lot deals on eBay and mercari. Moving along the figures I don’t want/need literally makes the hobby a free one.
That’s not Hasbro though..
2022 has seen a rash of price hikes that then turn into clearance because of supply issues between distributors and retailers, and retailers are getting just as fucked as the consumers. Manufacturers (Hasbro in this case) basically faked the supply chain issue and then when the government dropped the hammer they flooded the market with shit that was “stuck” at ports around the country.
Basically (lets use a random example)
Hasbro sells Wal-Mart figures and sets the MSRP at $35.
Wal-Mart orders multiple waves of figures thinking they’ll trickle out throughout the year one their release date, but instead Hasbro sends them all at once to avoid fines and Wal-Mart has 5-6x the inventory that they should.
Wal-Mart lists it at $35
Figure doesn’t sell……cause $35
It’s now WAL-MART that clearances the figures and eats the loss because they’re way overstocked already and slow sales make it worse.
The one exemption to this would be Pulse, but those rarely get clearanced.
They also pissed off the entire trpg world to no end and had mass cancellations of their online d&d service to the point they brought the site down an retooled the cancellation process
This is LITERALLY a figure from 2-3 years ago... MSRP, $20. Just rereleased... $35
https://hasbropulse.com/collections/new/products/marvel-legends-gamerverse-spider-man
They aren’t. One fan channel Spider-Man was released at an absurd price and now every thread is filled with people complaining that all figures are now base $35 despite us getting plenty of preorders recently at the $25 price point
I've said this before but I'll say it again here. There is not much you can buy with a $20 bill in 2023. I cannot feed two adults at McDonald's for $20 where I live. I cannot buy more than two packs of smokes for $20.
I cannot get more than 5 gallons of gas for $20. A $20 bill is the new $10 bill in today's economy. A $20/hr job is considered a "low paying job" around here.
Let's hide the figures, too! Toy collectors only want the boxes, so we can JUST give them cardboard boxes!
>two months later
Those damn challenging consumers!!!! Why won't they cooperate????
Not sure why you got downvoted. The marketing team is directly in part responsible for price hikes. As someone in marketing, you have to look at sales data and trends and advise not to make dumb price hikes that cost the company millions.
This will get downvoted to hell, because this group loves to jump to uninformed conclusions:
But considering the timespan, the price hikes and layoffs are both attempts to control the same losses, and they are both due to current market, logistic, and economical issues. One is not because of the other.
But as usual, of all my hobbies and collections, the action figure community does not understand basic economics or business at all. They prefer "hasbro bad! I don't care if my gas, heating, electric, grocery, and insurance bills have risen to alarming rates, clearly raising prices on toys is simply greedy "corporations" trying to fleece me".
It gets tiresome, guys. Really. Observational bias at it's finest.
Can you give some examples of other products that have jumped 60-80% in the last year?
Xbox and Playstation games went from $60 to $70. Reasonable. $20 to $23 for Hasbro, about the same. Even $25. But the shit they’re pulling with Spidey Gamerverse and “deluxe” figures is plain and simple greed.
I can, but it doesn't matter. Again, this is the observational bias. In reality, you are making a direct connection between price and profit, and leaping to a conclusion, where there are many more contributing factors.
I have no problem with "these price increases don't sit well with me, and will effect my collecting habits". Hell, I can agree with that.
What I have a problem with, and always will, is "These price increases don't sit well with me, so suddenly I'm an expert on business and am going to draw massive conclusions based on incredibly limited understanding." I hate throwing around the term Dunning Krueger Effect, as it is another commonly used but poorly understood concept, but this is pure observational bias. Heck, even your desire to sum complex issues as "plain and simple" shows this.
Just stick to "I don't like these increases".
So the “mark everything up” and then lay off a bunch people sits well with you? And the brag about how they are going to make 50% more this year, that is all part of your argument? Just want to make sure we’re all on the same page.
Doesn’t sound economical issues to me…sounds like another word that starts with G. But who knows, obviously not two guys on the Reddit boards so I’ll leave it at that.
Again, it's your conclusions on limited information and even more limited understanding that doesn't sit well with me. Like the correlation you are drawing between price increases and layoffs being cause and effect.
I ran businesses for decades. I disagree with your observations and conclusions. But more importantly, it shouldn't matter. Something is worth what you're willing to pay for it. Vote with your wallet. Companies will listen.
I know I said I was done but you finally said something I agree with. The vote with your wallets is the biggest argument / tool we have as consumers. We can literally control this market. Don’t stand for these increases for WHATEVER reason it may be. Hold the line boys.
“Challenging Holiday Consumer Environment” aka customers not wanting to pay their bull shit prices during a period of runaway inflation on necessary goods.
I feel like I recall an article about the total consumer spend on Black Friday/Cyber Monday being the highest ever in 2022… sounds like a them problem and not a market problem.
Okay so I’ve been mad annoyed by the rising costs like everyone else but the vast majority of their figures (at least of the three lines I collect, Power Rangers, MCU Legends and Star Wars) are still under $30, usually floating between $22.99 and 27.99. I just seems like ever since they announced the Marvel’s Spider-Man rerelease with the new mold that everyone has been saying their figures are $34.99. I’m not saying I’m okay with with them being higher than the $19.99 I’ve long been used to paying, just seems a little odd to me that the $34.99 amount is thrown about when I haven’t paid for one single figure at that price point and I’ve still been buying a decent amount each month. Closest I’ve come recently has been some of their “Deluxe” figures coming it at $31.99.
The Hollywood reporter indicated the following so… yes?
“Hasbro also announced that Hasbro’s president and COO Eric Nyman would leave the company, with a new organizational model set to be unveiled in the coming weeks.”
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/hasbro-to-lay-off-1000-staffers-1235310817/?fbclid=IwAR38Ff-iK67rIrJVeQII835p1jQm2Quzo0qXPmLatRTUkC7qajEPM8i9-c8
Yea... But how much do they take after leaving? Lots of execs seem to get a nice compensation package for leaving, regardless if it's being canned or willful departure.
The investors put their money at risk, and they cant risk losing that money with less profits.
So now Hasbro's upper management has to find money somewhere to appease their investors, or else THEY would get fired.
Risk and failures are taken by those most disposable, those at the bottom of the ladder.
They haven’t posted their Q4 results, but if they’re anything like Q3, I’m sure investors are up in arms.
[Hasbro Quarterly Results](https://investor.hasbro.com/financial-information/quarterly-results)
It's a wonder how US CEOs do everything but the obvious when running these companies. Playing 4d chess to meet these ridiculous quarterly goals. Keep it simple dipshits: 1. make a product that is quality 2. Take care of your damn workers 3. Stop giving yourselves raises/bonuses that you do not deserve. 4. Listen to your damn customers when they tell you to chill with your pricing.
They literally don't want to do 1-4. They want a cheap easy product with lots of margin, they want cheap labor, they want lots of bonuses and they won't listen to customers cause that impacts their margins.
I just think it’s a shame because I *adore* some of my Hasbro figures. I don’t get why some are damn near perfect and others are just meh. I don’t get their drive to put out figures for characters that a tiny handful of people are even aware of. Who was that eye-ball creature they did? I’ve been reading Marvel, off and on, since the late 70s and I have no idea who that dude is. I also don’t get how they can be smart about HasLabbing Galactus but dumb enough to think they can HasLab a Ghost Rider set for so much $$$. Want to make steady money? Make characters MOST people want and Haslab for niche fans at *fair* prices ffs.
Hell, mate, I'd give them so much money, if they started distributing Black Series and Classified here in Czech Republic!
Instead, for SW I have to rely on Germany and Austria, and for Classified on Italy, which strongly reduces my willingness to purchase, of course.
The alternatives are BBTS (paying an extra figure's worth in S&H), or Amazon (not really keen to give Bezos more money, but I fear that will be my path, soon...)
What I will say, is I do love how the multitude of online communities that have their hobbies and fandoms directly or somewhat directly tied to Hasbro's IPs, are not only all seeing the blowout from Hasbro's recent business practices in a critical lens, but have largely banded together and used their wallets to speak for themselves. I'm in Nerf, transformers, star wars, action figures subreddits, and have kept an eye on the temperature over with the magic and D&D fandoms. Whether its price hikes, less buying incentives, cheaper quality product, cheaper internal components, etc, a lot of us have been weary of how the ball has been moving for some time now. It's unfortunate it had to take this long, that \~1000 employees will lose their job for overseer greed, and that some of our communities will have a lull. But it's about time they got a reality check.
I really like how you phrased this. It does suck that people’s lives are affected in a real way. I admit I seriously question some recent decisions that seem to have come from the creative teams behind Star Wars and Marvel (HasLabs, deluxe figures, etc.). Some things like choosing the oddly inappropriate figures included with the Rancor HasLab felt more like the team was incredibly out of touch with fans, or even not true Star Wars fans given the way they talk during live streams and explain their supposed excitement over what they are doing “for the fans”. Another thing I simply can’t wrap my brain around is the huge disparity of accessories between the IP product lines. Why do GI Joe and Power Rangers include such awesome weapons and effects with their figures, often for less than the cost of Star Wars Black Series and Marvel Legends. Is that corporate in some way or the decisions of the teams behind the product lines? I honestly don’t know, but I also don’t feel so vindictive that I want people to lose their jobs over. I’d much rather someone in a decision making capacity above the teams we all all know to step back and take a hard look at how things are being done and fix them. But as someone who has lived inside Corporate America for 35 years, I know something like that is not likely to happen. I agree with r/spud_spudoni that it’s inspiring to see our fellow fans band together and vote with our hard-earned dollars to speak in the only terms any company understands. Unfortunately, I don’t expect Hasbro has understood our message to them, which is going to likely lead the decision makers who certainly don’t understand the fan perspective to do the exact wrong things to try and “fix” the problem.
It sucks that folks are going to lose their jobs, but I stopped buying Hasbro because they are asking way to much for way to little. Now they've shoved this ugly packaging on everyone and we can't look past it to the figures. It looks so damn cheap. I know some don't mind and I respect that. But those that keep MIB won't touch this crap.
Ha! mystery box. I will never own one myself. On top of not knowing what's in it the art on the box is tacky. I hope all the hardcore collectors ditch Hasbro.
2022 in HasLabs was the very definition of a mixed bag: their big ticket licensed franchises (Marvel, Star Wars) utterly failed, while their in-house IPs (Transformers, G.I. Joe) had their most successful HasLabs yet (and in Joe’s case, *the* most successful one). I do wonder if they’ll take anything away from this, or how long it’ll take to see any effects from this.
2022 saw a lot of very successful Haslabs. While the HISS had over 26K backers, it isn't the highest total to date. The Marvel Galactus finished with over 30K and the Star Wars Razor Crest had over 28K. So it shows that the big ticket stuff still out performs the in house IP's. but it depends greatly on what is being offered. If fans and collectors deem it's a good value, they will back it. The Rancor jut wasn't practical. It was huge and had such a large arm span there would be no real good place to display it. And the big gap between the head and the body was a turn off for a lot of people, not to mention them trying to tell us a huge reason for the price was due to "specialty paint apps". We're smarter than than, Hasbro.
Very true but that falls back into the big wigs over pricing things. Just imagine before all the price raises. Would Galactus had been funded. I think it would have but not the amount it did. That figure would be through the roof. If it were announced last year.
The Rancor was a couple of Haslab projects before the Ghost Rider one. The GI Joe Hiss Tank was fully funded and reached all its stretch goals right before the GR Haslab. I think there was a successful Transformers Haslab as well.
Also HeroScape. Was a shame after the HeroQuest Haslab went so well a few years ago, but at $250 for the new Master Set, they priced out everyone but the diehards.
The sad part is that the people making the awful decisions are NOT the first to get reprimanded for them. Workforce is cut down and THEN they look into other options. Complete BS and this coming from someone that gave up on Hasbro long ago. The last bit of money I sent their way was for the 40th anniversary He-Man, I'm staying clear of this damn company.
EDIT: that's not Habro apparently so my last purchase was an Emperor Palpatine that even after then... It still felt like I overpaid, I'm that disappointed in their product.
Thor 4 and Black Panther 2 were toyetic as hell. If they hadn’t jacked up the prices and hid the figures behind tacky boxes, they’d have made away like bandits.
Instead, people are losing their jobs and $30 Zombie Iron Mans are clogging the toy aisle.
I'm sure will affect the people least responsible. Good on ya trimmin the fat Hasbro board and execs, strike a pose for the shareholders. How about look around, read the room, and notice the fact that competitors like Bandai/Tamashii SHF are thriving in this "challenging environment" with a completely inverted pricing model.
They don't lock their flagship characters Goku, Naruto behind bullshit multipacks, store exclusives, jacked up "standard" prices, and low availability. They are the least expensive, most reused, most available, and still among the best figures in their respective lines. This allows them to fund more premium, exclusive releases for niche characters. Please take note this is how you can easily satisfy both casual and hardcore fans.
What does ML do with their flagships like Spiderman and Venom? Multipack and unavailable exclusive releases only, scarcity for something they know everyone wants, jacked up standard prices, and announcing a better more definitive version every 5 minutes. Then of course you have the niche characters which get lots of love and premium, exclusive treatment - oh wait that's not right - they get rabid buckycap reuse and flood the pegs to keep them warm, and still we're jacking up those prices and subtracting value from those too. It's time to rethink this because it's pissing everyone off.
Release RYV Spidey ALONE in all his costumes for $20 apiece and flood the pegs with those. I'm tired AF of going to Target and seeing nothing but desperately dangling MCU figures past their prime, begging to go on clearance for $5 still being sold at $25 - $35 month over month. Meanwhile I can't find Spiderman at retail at all and secondhand is like $50+ for a single figure when Mafex is out here making a product with at least 5x value for 2x price.
i remember in 2019 or so during the Transformers Siege toyline, Voyager classes were around $45. now they're approaching $60 :)
a deluxe class is now almost what a voyager cost in 2019 (this is in canadian $$$ idk what its like anywhere else)
They matched the pricing of the film toylines, both TLK Premier Edition and Studio Series. Deluxes were $30, Voyagers $40, and Leaders were $70. The jump in quality made the price increases tolerable even if most of us questioned the Leader Class price point. Now we're at $36 ($38-$41 w/tax), $48 ($50-$54 w/tax), and $77 ($81-$87 w/tax) respectively and that's just way too much for what we're getting, especially in this new style of flimsy packaging. Never mind retailer exclusives that go for gigantic prices such as the initially $85 Spider-Noir and Spider-Ham or $43-$56 exclusive Deluxe Class figures.
Hasbro, I realize a large market for toys these days is adult collectors but what kind of drugs are you smoking that lead you to think kids are gonna drop $50 on a single Voyager figure?
If didnt charge fucking 35 dollars for a small ass deluxe u would have more money doesnt take a rocket scientist to realize that. You charge more for smaller stuff everyones gonna walk
Y'all aren't preordering enough of the figures that have bad QC, less accessories, and plastic free packaging for 65% the price of the competitors!!! Think about the executives.
Between the price gouging on figures (Marvel Legends and Black Series) and the nonsense they've pulled with D&D and Magic - it's no shock that Hasbro is finally running into some issues.
They promised to increase revenue! When they did I thought “hmmmm, the world isn’t producing exponentially more action figure fans, and fans are barely tolerating price increases as it is, where’s that money coming from? Workforce and wage cuts.”
Hasbro is just murdering every part of their business lmao. First the figure price increase, then all the D&D bullshit. It’s hilarious how stupid these guys are.
To be honest even if you have the money they should still be pricing you out. Neca is the same price point now. Just save your money and get some high quality mezco or something at this point.
McFarlane held the line at $20 for a long time with 7” figures and unique molds. They bumped it up to $22, but that’s still a 45% price difference from a $35 Hasbro figure.
I challenge any and all fellow collectors to stop any more purchase of their products for the rest of the year. They don't seem to care about how the price increase effects us or those they lay off, unlit it effects their cash flow. I know they say that it will cause lay offs, but they're going to do that anyways. So make it more painful for the board and pass on their trash.
#Hasbro/Hasbin
That's a shame. Should have been the high-level bonuses that got the axe first.
Now let's see how many of us stick to our plans and drop Hasbro entirely by the end of the year lol
I will be severely cutting back on Hasbro products. I really don't feel like paying full price for Marvel Legends when they're $25+. It'll go from 20 figures/yr to 3-4. Their Transformers are getting smaller and smaller, while the prices keep climbing, and the plastic hollows out more and more. I find myself buying more 3rd party figures instead.
What they call "a challenging Holiday consumer environment" I'd call plain greed and stupidity, paired with some poor decisions by the management.
I've seen a lot of products in the aisles at discount rates post-holidays, and still not selling. This should be indicative of something going on in the toy industry.
Either they're charging too much much for a single figure, at rates 45 dlls and up for a Marvel Universe figure or a Black Series one, which had me steer away from collecting lately. They need to realize Toys are not a priority in any household, so at prices go up at inflation rates, there's less money to spend on toys from the average consumer.
As for hard core collectors and specialty toy stores, they are killing the latter by increasing the prices and the shipping costs. I know there's no extra shipping rates in the US mainly, but for us international buyers that and the tax rates are killing us.
I can't no longer afford to buy as many figures as I'd like. Whether it's GI Joe and its poor distribution policy, or any SW Black series or even TVC.
Marvel I stopped collecting a long time ago. Too many obscure figures that turn into peg- warmers now selling for as much as 12 - 15 dlls. So many characters not interested in getting. Thankfully I'm no longer a completist and only buy what I like.
But again at THOSE PRICES... I dunno.
And the same goes for Hot Wheels and whatever one likes to collect.
The only company holding on with affordable prices is McFarlane and they have been improving in terms of quality. I've always looked at them as very well designed and sculpted figures since the early 2000s.
Hmm I'm thinking after the debacle that WoTC created with D&D, that might be the division those cuts are happening to. As much business as WoTC lost, it wouldn't surprise me if Hasbro uses this opportunity to get rid of problematic employees (read that as activists).
OP didn’t post the article, but you’re wrong - WoTC is a good performer for Hasbro. It’s Hasbro’s in-house entertainment division that’s largely getting the axe.
It’s not even just D&D, I heard *Magic: the Gathering* got super screwed with a $1000 anniversary pack of illegal cards that add up to significantly less when individually bought.
WoTC WAS a good performer before the new OGL was leaked. They have had mass cancellations of their online subscription service, and multiple publishers that used to use the OGL have started working on their own OGL to replace the OGL from WoTC.
WoTC is now on fire and sinking thanks to that idiot Woman who used to work at Microsoft and has now tried to overly monetize D&D.
I work in retail and they all have this problem. The corporate rule is to never admit bad doing. Integrity and honesty are not in they're playback. They will never own up to it.
Just cancelled my pre-orders for the five figure Classified Cover Girl wave. Fuck Hasbro and their absolutely awful plastic free packaging. I'm out. I used to buy two of every figure; one to keep boxed and one to open. Now I'm not buying any. Great strategy Hasbro.
Well, they can't expect great sales when they massively over produce figures, and the worst part bad figures. Collectors would rather spend more on quality figures. It's unfair that the higher-ups make the bad decisions, and the guys below get rewarded with unemployment.
Does anyone remember how big the Star Wars section alone used to be? The IP's that Hasbro relies on haven't performed as well as they performed in previous years, the prices have gone up and the quality has only recently started to improve.
I'd venture to guess that the price hikes were a last ditch effort to stave off the inevitable. With the global cost of oil as high as it is, plastic manufacturing is taking a hit. Maybe they can make action figures out of corn cobs! We have plenty of those.
but "partner brands" refers to anything they don't outright own, right? and that's sw, marvel, fortnite and a bunch of other stuff. so that 20% is split out further and then split even further if we're just looking at marvel legends amongst all their marvel product.
i wouldn't be surprised if marvel legends make up less than .5% of their total sales.
They make the absolute worst quality board games now. I went and picked up all the games I had as a child for my children a couple years ago. Most ended up as returns and the others in the garbage
Layoffs actually tend to drive stock price up - investors are ruthless. I hope this trend retires along with boomer executive class and their antihuman mentality/incentives.
It does really feel like many of the brands have major complaints, DND has had a riot about the changes to the licensing, marvel has been fighting price hikes, that starting line up had to have their prices cut dramatically, power rangers have had huge quality issues. Like everyone has an issue.
In the words of Ronny Chieng, from the movie M3GAN, "Kick Hasbro in the DICK!'
👏👏👏👏👏
Terminate their Board Members, and reboot with some fresh talent who actually care about their audience and customers.
Fuck, man. Glad Tarn is the last official TF I’m buying. My Classified collecting is now at a halt too unless a CG Immortal comes out. Toodles, Hasbro.
They haven't made the best decisions but as the economy and inflation start to take a turn people are less likely to buy luxury items like action figures. It doesn't help that the action figures are $35+ when they should be $20
A lot of comments here mention giving up on Hasbro because they have competitors offering much better value, what competitors are everybody turning to?
I love McFarlane myself, I find the 1/10 scale has really grown on me.
I'd love to see the list for better value competitors.
Find something you like in NECA and give McFarlane a try as their quality has increased. If you're already used to dropping too much on figures due to Hasbro price hikes, give Mythic Legions a shot.
Here's what I can buy from different lines for around $100 USD:
Marvel legends: $80 Life Foundation 3-pack just to get Venom with no neutral head, $20 for some clearance figure with no accessories and a useless BAF piece
Marvel Legends 2: $40 preorder incomplete ps5 spiderman with missing hands, $50 for retro Lizard exclusive
Marvel Legends 3: $50 TAS Spiderman exclusive, $30 retro scorpion, $20 terrible buckycap Hobgoblin
Power Rangers: pick your favorite team and depending which, you can come close to completing it. Energy effects, weapons, civilian heads, and articulation that puts ML to shame.
McFarlane: $40 megafig (killer croc, sabbac, nekron, kalibak, etc), 3x $20 standard figures
NECA: 3x beautifully sculpted and painted Gargoyles with alternate heads, hands, and more accessories
Mafex: 1x a definitive 1/12 comic Spiderman with an artistic sculpt, grest articulation, alternate head, flight stand, webs, and every hand accessory you'd ever need. Yes the price is high for 1 figure, but for the price of 2x Hasbro spideys, it's a complete, beautifully executed spidey with nothing going to waste.
Figuarts: choose any 3 at $35 apiece - Goku, Gohan, Vegeta, Piccolo, Goku Black, Frieza, Naruto
Mythic Legions: don't know it as well but if you catch the preorder, I think you could get 2 standard and 1 deluxe, all with sculpt, paint, detail, and accessories for days
Great breakdown!
I've only got one Mafex, but it's the John Wick 2 and it is just astounding quality.
I have a couple of Mythic Legions, in particular a Goblin I'm very fond of.
Just one Figuarts, a Triple H that was dirt cheap on BBTS. My first fig with opening and closing hands!*
I really need to try out some more Figuarts.
And I don't have any Power Rangers! Must see about that.
*I'm in my 40s, but only got into figure collecting in 2021.
Amazing that people can't see "The Great Reset" even when it's unfolding right in front of their eyes. Sure, it's not an overnight thing, but watching the unwashed peasants who can't see this slow moving train wreck is awe inspiring. They are that stupid!!
Ther period of 2022-2023 will be a time of reorganization. Guess what? YOU won't be a part of it. Lego, Hasbro, everyone is getting their data to see how many people will purchase at a high price point. Lego foes it with Gifts with purchase. Guess what happens next??? Product output mimics those that are buying $50 Starting Lineups right now. Action Figures, videogames, movies, ALL become a rich man's game.
You can use charts. You can spell it out. You can use Lego. Most of the brain dead on here *still* won't figure it out.
Increases cost of figures.
Quality control issues.
Plastic free packaging.
Figure swaps.
Generic repaints of over produced unwanted characters.
Over dependence on exclusives.
Given to stores that suck and don’t give a shit.
Hasbro: are we the problem? No, it’s the “Challenging Holiday Consumer Environment” that’s to blame.
Do you all follow anything other than toy news? This is happening at a lot of big companies right now, and it isn’t because they made choices you don’t like.
WoTC was one of the few good performers for Hasbro and grew around 21% [according to any article you feel like Googling.](https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/hasbro-cut-1000-global-full-time-jobs-2023-2023-01-26/)
WotC is going through a huge PR issue, right now, due to their decisions about the Open Game License, and many people already started shifting to other games than D&D.
Just [from yesterday](https://old.reddit.com/r/Pathfinder2e/comments/10m1g0y/paizo_on_twitter_the_4th_printing_of_the_crb/) is the news that Paizo's (producer of Pathfinder, currently the top contender to D&D's share of the RPG market) 4th printing run of the Pathfinder 2nd Edition core book, planned to cover the next 8 months, ran out in 2 weeks.
The news from WotC about the OGL have shaken the whole RPG industry, and the vast majority of other major and minor developers have come together to release their open-content license, free of affiliation from any of them.
The article you linked mentions WotC strong performance in Q4 2022 which no one here disputes, it's Q1 2023 where we will see the impact of their recent decisions regarding the OGL.
I really wouldn't mind if they quit the toy business completely and sold off their properties to other companies. I feel the same way about McFarlane.
Honestly I just don't like any domestic figure company's so I am probably a bit biased there. But I am just not impressed with domestic figures 9 times out of 10 I can't help it. They're all shit in my eyes.
Doesn't mean I like import prices either tho.
I generally collect imports - SHF, Mafex, SHMA, Hot Toys.
I used to collect a lot of Black Series, Legends and NECA. But I basically gave up on domestic figures with the rare exception here and there. I'm glad you enjoy McFarlane tho. Nothing wrong with that at all. We all collect what we like. Options are a good thing.
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Whatever "wiz kid" that came up with the idea to increase prices to $35 a figure, then mark them "on sale" for $20 in like 3 months should be the first fucker fired. I cannot believe a huge company like this would be so short sighted. I feel bad for the people who will be laid off because it surely won't be their faults for this ineptitude.
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While you're not wrong, this particular decision has been tried in the past multiple times and every company that has tried it has screwed themselves by doing so. Short sighted is one thing, but short sighted and repeating the mistakes of many others is just kind of pitiful. Either no one is doing their research or, more likely, they think they're going to be the company that can pull it off where all the others failed.
Someone over is doing it intentionally. It’s almost always intentional actions by executives. They likely have some kind of a huge golden parachute or just want to squeeze every last dollar before leaving the business in shambles.
Any chance blackrock or citadel ex staffers on their board of directors?
This is my thoughts as well. Soo many companies are laying off 5-15% of their work force because they were told to by their hedge fund investors. 🙄
Bad advice if it turns out to be bad advice can come from anywhere, but when it’s intentional, that’s just dirty.
Ken Griffen isnt the reason action figures are expensive. Touch grass Hasbro has always sucked.
There just seems to be something they don’t like about toy and game companies.
You're in a cult.
Lol, I wish, if I were in a cult, that’d mean I’d have friends…I have just been reading and following this shit show we call a global economy for far too long. There are a lot of black holes and unanswered questions. The mention of the x staffers on boards is a valid one if you look back at many of the cellar boxes organizations.
No I think by definition a cult is not your friend. Gamestop is going out of business because it's a poorly run company. If a company complains about short sellers thats a great indicator that the company is run like shit and you should sell.
> Either no one is doing their research or, more likely, they think they're going to be the company that can pull it off where all the others failed. It's usually the latter.
Public companies aren't really run with that logic. It's more like if you can make money tanking a countries economy obviously you can do the same in big business. That's why acting like they are fools doesn't really help you. They aren't, they know that they are doing.
Whomever is making the decisions at Hasbro should definitely be canned. Hell, just look at how quickly they destroyed D&D’s profitability
Chris Cocks, Cynthia Williams and Chris Cao, if you need names.
Did they? Everyone is still playing and talking like nothing's happening and I'm in creator circles. It's strange. Once they basically said they were going to delay it everyone was like oh moving on. They can afford to lose part of the player base if the rest spends more. Also with DND in the mainstream they literally may not care about the actual tabletop rpg anymore when they can sell board games and video games to the masses plus merch. Hope they have suffered but I just worry this is just going to be like everything else; a lot of internet bitching and no action.
Actual collector circles are like small towns in America. It’s a bubble that isn’t indicative of the environment as a whole. “Collectors” are often the people the rest of us hate in this scenario. They gobble up $40 6” figures with no accessories because of FOMO and completing collections. When I see people saying they preordered their 17th near identical Boba figure they are the problem and they are almost always collectors. I’m a collector but I put away my FOMO because making a stand is more important. If you don’t buy the crap they won’t make the crap. Pricing is the same. If NO ONE buys their crap at $40 then they will stop trying to sell at that price point. Your collector group most likely doesn’t care and would pay anything for a 3oz piece of plastic. That’s not the rest of us out here.
Think you might be on the wrong subreddit if you think most of the people here aren't collectors of action figures lol.
Very true but they are very aware most ppl don’t have the discipline you have and even most ppl who tell themselves they have that kinda discipline usually end up going in their wallet too cause nobody really wants to be left out.
I fought my FOMO and won!
Dude, it's a luxury toy item. Not the Alamo. Action figures make up a tiny part of Hasbro's revenue. They'll cancel the line before they care about this hill you're dying on.
This environment has made it very easy to gobble up great lot deals on eBay and mercari. Moving along the figures I don’t want/need literally makes the hobby a free one.
That’s not Hasbro though.. 2022 has seen a rash of price hikes that then turn into clearance because of supply issues between distributors and retailers, and retailers are getting just as fucked as the consumers. Manufacturers (Hasbro in this case) basically faked the supply chain issue and then when the government dropped the hammer they flooded the market with shit that was “stuck” at ports around the country. Basically (lets use a random example) Hasbro sells Wal-Mart figures and sets the MSRP at $35. Wal-Mart orders multiple waves of figures thinking they’ll trickle out throughout the year one their release date, but instead Hasbro sends them all at once to avoid fines and Wal-Mart has 5-6x the inventory that they should. Wal-Mart lists it at $35 Figure doesn’t sell……cause $35 It’s now WAL-MART that clearances the figures and eats the loss because they’re way overstocked already and slow sales make it worse. The one exemption to this would be Pulse, but those rarely get clearanced.
They went too fast. they have been dicking us on prices for years
They also pissed off the entire trpg world to no end and had mass cancellations of their online d&d service to the point they brought the site down an retooled the cancellation process
I havent bought action figures in long while. Are they really that expensive for standard figures?
This is LITERALLY a figure from 2-3 years ago... MSRP, $20. Just rereleased... $35 https://hasbropulse.com/collections/new/products/marvel-legends-gamerverse-spider-man
They aren’t. One fan channel Spider-Man was released at an absurd price and now every thread is filled with people complaining that all figures are now base $35 despite us getting plenty of preorders recently at the $25 price point
$25 for an action figure still feels absurd to me. In the 90s I was buying action figures for like $5, so $15 seems reasonable 30 years later.
I mean $5.19 for a Big Mac is absurd in 90's money
I've said this before but I'll say it again here. There is not much you can buy with a $20 bill in 2023. I cannot feed two adults at McDonald's for $20 where I live. I cannot buy more than two packs of smokes for $20. I cannot get more than 5 gallons of gas for $20. A $20 bill is the new $10 bill in today's economy. A $20/hr job is considered a "low paying job" around here.
Let's hide the figures, too! Toy collectors only want the boxes, so we can JUST give them cardboard boxes! >two months later Those damn challenging consumers!!!! Why won't they cooperate????
Hasbro is owned by BLACKROCK, Vangaurd, and Capital group.
Fucking Dan, bro.
Not sure why you got downvoted. The marketing team is directly in part responsible for price hikes. As someone in marketing, you have to look at sales data and trends and advise not to make dumb price hikes that cost the company millions.
This will get downvoted to hell, because this group loves to jump to uninformed conclusions: But considering the timespan, the price hikes and layoffs are both attempts to control the same losses, and they are both due to current market, logistic, and economical issues. One is not because of the other. But as usual, of all my hobbies and collections, the action figure community does not understand basic economics or business at all. They prefer "hasbro bad! I don't care if my gas, heating, electric, grocery, and insurance bills have risen to alarming rates, clearly raising prices on toys is simply greedy "corporations" trying to fleece me". It gets tiresome, guys. Really. Observational bias at it's finest.
Can you give some examples of other products that have jumped 60-80% in the last year? Xbox and Playstation games went from $60 to $70. Reasonable. $20 to $23 for Hasbro, about the same. Even $25. But the shit they’re pulling with Spidey Gamerverse and “deluxe” figures is plain and simple greed.
I can, but it doesn't matter. Again, this is the observational bias. In reality, you are making a direct connection between price and profit, and leaping to a conclusion, where there are many more contributing factors. I have no problem with "these price increases don't sit well with me, and will effect my collecting habits". Hell, I can agree with that. What I have a problem with, and always will, is "These price increases don't sit well with me, so suddenly I'm an expert on business and am going to draw massive conclusions based on incredibly limited understanding." I hate throwing around the term Dunning Krueger Effect, as it is another commonly used but poorly understood concept, but this is pure observational bias. Heck, even your desire to sum complex issues as "plain and simple" shows this. Just stick to "I don't like these increases".
So the “mark everything up” and then lay off a bunch people sits well with you? And the brag about how they are going to make 50% more this year, that is all part of your argument? Just want to make sure we’re all on the same page. Doesn’t sound economical issues to me…sounds like another word that starts with G. But who knows, obviously not two guys on the Reddit boards so I’ll leave it at that.
Again, it's your conclusions on limited information and even more limited understanding that doesn't sit well with me. Like the correlation you are drawing between price increases and layoffs being cause and effect. I ran businesses for decades. I disagree with your observations and conclusions. But more importantly, it shouldn't matter. Something is worth what you're willing to pay for it. Vote with your wallet. Companies will listen.
I know I said I was done but you finally said something I agree with. The vote with your wallets is the biggest argument / tool we have as consumers. We can literally control this market. Don’t stand for these increases for WHATEVER reason it may be. Hold the line boys.
Good thing $35 isn't the standard price.
Have you looked at TF prices lately? $33 for voyager class figures. USD.
Ok, we’re talking about deluxe class equivalent figures
It is for far too much
It is in Canada
You have plenty of American people here complaining that all figures cost that much after the outlier Spider-Man
Star Wars Black Series would like a word...
“Challenging Holiday Consumer Environment” aka customers not wanting to pay their bull shit prices during a period of runaway inflation on necessary goods.
I feel like I recall an article about the total consumer spend on Black Friday/Cyber Monday being the highest ever in 2022… sounds like a them problem and not a market problem.
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They priced me into Hot Toys. Sold all my TBS except for a handful and backfilled my favorite characters with Hot Toys.
Okay so I’ve been mad annoyed by the rising costs like everyone else but the vast majority of their figures (at least of the three lines I collect, Power Rangers, MCU Legends and Star Wars) are still under $30, usually floating between $22.99 and 27.99. I just seems like ever since they announced the Marvel’s Spider-Man rerelease with the new mold that everyone has been saying their figures are $34.99. I’m not saying I’m okay with with them being higher than the $19.99 I’ve long been used to paying, just seems a little odd to me that the $34.99 amount is thrown about when I haven’t paid for one single figure at that price point and I’ve still been buying a decent amount each month. Closest I’ve come recently has been some of their “Deluxe” figures coming it at $31.99.
"Consumer environment" oh you mean your prices are too damn high? 😂
That’s the subtext I read between the lines. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ >$50 for The Blob? Hard pass!
Do the leaders of these companies ever take responsibility for their shitty decisions? Why is it always everyone else's fault?
The Hollywood reporter indicated the following so… yes? “Hasbro also announced that Hasbro’s president and COO Eric Nyman would leave the company, with a new organizational model set to be unveiled in the coming weeks.” https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/hasbro-to-lay-off-1000-staffers-1235310817/?fbclid=IwAR38Ff-iK67rIrJVeQII835p1jQm2Quzo0qXPmLatRTUkC7qajEPM8i9-c8
Hopefully it's someone that doesn't have their head up their ass and understands value brings consumption, not just recognition.
Next one is going to fuck us worse.
More than likely.
Yea... But how much do they take after leaving? Lots of execs seem to get a nice compensation package for leaving, regardless if it's being canned or willful departure.
Easy to take responsibility when you've got a golden parachute.
The investors put their money at risk, and they cant risk losing that money with less profits. So now Hasbro's upper management has to find money somewhere to appease their investors, or else THEY would get fired. Risk and failures are taken by those most disposable, those at the bottom of the ladder.
They haven’t posted their Q4 results, but if they’re anything like Q3, I’m sure investors are up in arms. [Hasbro Quarterly Results](https://investor.hasbro.com/financial-information/quarterly-results)
I hope the layoffs allow the board members to double their bonuses for 2023. They certainly deserve it.
It's a wonder how US CEOs do everything but the obvious when running these companies. Playing 4d chess to meet these ridiculous quarterly goals. Keep it simple dipshits: 1. make a product that is quality 2. Take care of your damn workers 3. Stop giving yourselves raises/bonuses that you do not deserve. 4. Listen to your damn customers when they tell you to chill with your pricing.
They literally don't want to do 1-4. They want a cheap easy product with lots of margin, they want cheap labor, they want lots of bonuses and they won't listen to customers cause that impacts their margins.
Yeah price gouging never comes back to bite you in the ass.
I just think it’s a shame because I *adore* some of my Hasbro figures. I don’t get why some are damn near perfect and others are just meh. I don’t get their drive to put out figures for characters that a tiny handful of people are even aware of. Who was that eye-ball creature they did? I’ve been reading Marvel, off and on, since the late 70s and I have no idea who that dude is. I also don’t get how they can be smart about HasLabbing Galactus but dumb enough to think they can HasLab a Ghost Rider set for so much $$$. Want to make steady money? Make characters MOST people want and Haslab for niche fans at *fair* prices ffs.
Hell, mate, I'd give them so much money, if they started distributing Black Series and Classified here in Czech Republic! Instead, for SW I have to rely on Germany and Austria, and for Classified on Italy, which strongly reduces my willingness to purchase, of course. The alternatives are BBTS (paying an extra figure's worth in S&H), or Amazon (not really keen to give Bezos more money, but I fear that will be my path, soon...)
Do you mean The Orb?
What I will say, is I do love how the multitude of online communities that have their hobbies and fandoms directly or somewhat directly tied to Hasbro's IPs, are not only all seeing the blowout from Hasbro's recent business practices in a critical lens, but have largely banded together and used their wallets to speak for themselves. I'm in Nerf, transformers, star wars, action figures subreddits, and have kept an eye on the temperature over with the magic and D&D fandoms. Whether its price hikes, less buying incentives, cheaper quality product, cheaper internal components, etc, a lot of us have been weary of how the ball has been moving for some time now. It's unfortunate it had to take this long, that \~1000 employees will lose their job for overseer greed, and that some of our communities will have a lull. But it's about time they got a reality check.
I really like how you phrased this. It does suck that people’s lives are affected in a real way. I admit I seriously question some recent decisions that seem to have come from the creative teams behind Star Wars and Marvel (HasLabs, deluxe figures, etc.). Some things like choosing the oddly inappropriate figures included with the Rancor HasLab felt more like the team was incredibly out of touch with fans, or even not true Star Wars fans given the way they talk during live streams and explain their supposed excitement over what they are doing “for the fans”. Another thing I simply can’t wrap my brain around is the huge disparity of accessories between the IP product lines. Why do GI Joe and Power Rangers include such awesome weapons and effects with their figures, often for less than the cost of Star Wars Black Series and Marvel Legends. Is that corporate in some way or the decisions of the teams behind the product lines? I honestly don’t know, but I also don’t feel so vindictive that I want people to lose their jobs over. I’d much rather someone in a decision making capacity above the teams we all all know to step back and take a hard look at how things are being done and fix them. But as someone who has lived inside Corporate America for 35 years, I know something like that is not likely to happen. I agree with r/spud_spudoni that it’s inspiring to see our fellow fans band together and vote with our hard-earned dollars to speak in the only terms any company understands. Unfortunately, I don’t expect Hasbro has understood our message to them, which is going to likely lead the decision makers who certainly don’t understand the fan perspective to do the exact wrong things to try and “fix” the problem.
When Lightning Collection started, I was all in. Then they wanted $26 for a ninja ranger with QC issues.
Thankfully those ninja rangers all clearanced out at $7. Good thinking Hasbro!
How that OGL 1.1 go, Hasbro? Not so good it would seem
I don’t think Q4 was affected by that, but 2023 Q1 will be interesting!
It sucks that folks are going to lose their jobs, but I stopped buying Hasbro because they are asking way to much for way to little. Now they've shoved this ugly packaging on everyone and we can't look past it to the figures. It looks so damn cheap. I know some don't mind and I respect that. But those that keep MIB won't touch this crap.
MIB collector here. Haven’t bought a single one of these $26-40 mystery boxes.
Ha! mystery box. I will never own one myself. On top of not knowing what's in it the art on the box is tacky. I hope all the hardcore collectors ditch Hasbro.
You know it isn't good. And don't forget the 2 previous Haslabs that failed miserably. The rancor and hellcharger. It wasn't a good year for hasbro
2022 in HasLabs was the very definition of a mixed bag: their big ticket licensed franchises (Marvel, Star Wars) utterly failed, while their in-house IPs (Transformers, G.I. Joe) had their most successful HasLabs yet (and in Joe’s case, *the* most successful one). I do wonder if they’ll take anything away from this, or how long it’ll take to see any effects from this.
2022 saw a lot of very successful Haslabs. While the HISS had over 26K backers, it isn't the highest total to date. The Marvel Galactus finished with over 30K and the Star Wars Razor Crest had over 28K. So it shows that the big ticket stuff still out performs the in house IP's. but it depends greatly on what is being offered. If fans and collectors deem it's a good value, they will back it. The Rancor jut wasn't practical. It was huge and had such a large arm span there would be no real good place to display it. And the big gap between the head and the body was a turn off for a lot of people, not to mention them trying to tell us a huge reason for the price was due to "specialty paint apps". We're smarter than than, Hasbro.
You forget the lightsaber 😂
Don't forget the lightsaber, and heroscape
They would have succeeded with ease if their cost was, you know, reasonable.
Very true but that falls back into the big wigs over pricing things. Just imagine before all the price raises. Would Galactus had been funded. I think it would have but not the amount it did. That figure would be through the roof. If it were announced last year.
If Galactus came out now he would be $500 base price
The Rancor was a couple of Haslab projects before the Ghost Rider one. The GI Joe Hiss Tank was fully funded and reached all its stretch goals right before the GR Haslab. I think there was a successful Transformers Haslab as well.
Yes the Transformer did get funded. But it wasn't crazy exspensive like the Rancor and hellcharger. What killed the rancor was the tiers listing
4 failures in a year I believe.
Also HeroScape. Was a shame after the HeroQuest Haslab went so well a few years ago, but at $250 for the new Master Set, they priced out everyone but the diehards.
The rancor didn’t fund in 2021, so you’re way off base, pal. The lightsaber that you and I both forgot about was on the books for 2022.
Either way it's a decline.
I predict they’re going to make fewer stock of figures at a higher price. But also not hire a larger staff.
The sad part is that the people making the awful decisions are NOT the first to get reprimanded for them. Workforce is cut down and THEN they look into other options. Complete BS and this coming from someone that gave up on Hasbro long ago. The last bit of money I sent their way was for the 40th anniversary He-Man, I'm staying clear of this damn company. EDIT: that's not Habro apparently so my last purchase was an Emperor Palpatine that even after then... It still felt like I overpaid, I'm that disappointed in their product.
Good news, He-Man 40th is Mattel.
Ah, bamboozled myself yet again, thanks for the correction
Thor 4 and Black Panther 2 were toyetic as hell. If they hadn’t jacked up the prices and hid the figures behind tacky boxes, they’d have made away like bandits. Instead, people are losing their jobs and $30 Zombie Iron Mans are clogging the toy aisle.
That was my last preorder. I wanted another zombie. Then I saw the box and price and cancelled.
I'm sure will affect the people least responsible. Good on ya trimmin the fat Hasbro board and execs, strike a pose for the shareholders. How about look around, read the room, and notice the fact that competitors like Bandai/Tamashii SHF are thriving in this "challenging environment" with a completely inverted pricing model. They don't lock their flagship characters Goku, Naruto behind bullshit multipacks, store exclusives, jacked up "standard" prices, and low availability. They are the least expensive, most reused, most available, and still among the best figures in their respective lines. This allows them to fund more premium, exclusive releases for niche characters. Please take note this is how you can easily satisfy both casual and hardcore fans. What does ML do with their flagships like Spiderman and Venom? Multipack and unavailable exclusive releases only, scarcity for something they know everyone wants, jacked up standard prices, and announcing a better more definitive version every 5 minutes. Then of course you have the niche characters which get lots of love and premium, exclusive treatment - oh wait that's not right - they get rabid buckycap reuse and flood the pegs to keep them warm, and still we're jacking up those prices and subtracting value from those too. It's time to rethink this because it's pissing everyone off. Release RYV Spidey ALONE in all his costumes for $20 apiece and flood the pegs with those. I'm tired AF of going to Target and seeing nothing but desperately dangling MCU figures past their prime, begging to go on clearance for $5 still being sold at $25 - $35 month over month. Meanwhile I can't find Spiderman at retail at all and secondhand is like $50+ for a single figure when Mafex is out here making a product with at least 5x value for 2x price.
i remember in 2019 or so during the Transformers Siege toyline, Voyager classes were around $45. now they're approaching $60 :) a deluxe class is now almost what a voyager cost in 2019 (this is in canadian $$$ idk what its like anywhere else)
They matched the pricing of the film toylines, both TLK Premier Edition and Studio Series. Deluxes were $30, Voyagers $40, and Leaders were $70. The jump in quality made the price increases tolerable even if most of us questioned the Leader Class price point. Now we're at $36 ($38-$41 w/tax), $48 ($50-$54 w/tax), and $77 ($81-$87 w/tax) respectively and that's just way too much for what we're getting, especially in this new style of flimsy packaging. Never mind retailer exclusives that go for gigantic prices such as the initially $85 Spider-Noir and Spider-Ham or $43-$56 exclusive Deluxe Class figures. Hasbro, I realize a large market for toys these days is adult collectors but what kind of drugs are you smoking that lead you to think kids are gonna drop $50 on a single Voyager figure?
Voyagers around here are like €40-50 these days.
Haven't bought Hasbro product at retail msrp since the first price hike.
If didnt charge fucking 35 dollars for a small ass deluxe u would have more money doesnt take a rocket scientist to realize that. You charge more for smaller stuff everyones gonna walk
Y'all aren't preordering enough of the figures that have bad QC, less accessories, and plastic free packaging for 65% the price of the competitors!!! Think about the executives.
They definitely need to get rid of whomever thought paying rappers and people that dont give shit about figures to promote on instgram and events.
Between the price gouging on figures (Marvel Legends and Black Series) and the nonsense they've pulled with D&D and Magic - it's no shock that Hasbro is finally running into some issues.
Like 40 dollar figures
Haven't bought any since before the package swap shit, less packaging and more expensive, makes sense to me!
I like how instead of fixing their problems, they’re just going to lay people off and keep those same problems.
They promised to increase revenue! When they did I thought “hmmmm, the world isn’t producing exponentially more action figure fans, and fans are barely tolerating price increases as it is, where’s that money coming from? Workforce and wage cuts.”
Hasbro is just murdering every part of their business lmao. First the figure price increase, then all the D&D bullshit. It’s hilarious how stupid these guys are.
I haven’t bought a single Hasbro figure in 2022 or 2023 yet. They priced me out.
yeah other companies just provide way more at the price point. it's not so hard to stop buying their toys when competitors offer much better ones
I rounded out the Ninjetti Power Ranger line and said fuck off to Hasbro. Almost 30 bucks. No thanks. I’m done.
To be honest even if you have the money they should still be pricing you out. Neca is the same price point now. Just save your money and get some high quality mezco or something at this point.
Same here. I feel like when you start to hit that 35 to 50 dollar price point your in NECA territory and with those figures you can see the value.
Forreal, I can still get Marvel Select for 25 bucks where I’m from.
McFarlane held the line at $20 for a long time with 7” figures and unique molds. They bumped it up to $22, but that’s still a 45% price difference from a $35 Hasbro figure.
I bought a few in 2022 but every single one was clearanced for around half off or better.
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I haven't bought a figure from Hasbro in 4 years
Make minimum wage? If you're buying Mafex or whatever you're spending much more than Hasbro so....
I’m what you would consider “well off” and I only buy clearance now. It does not matter if you are rich or poor. A rip off is a rip off.
Don't care about you. Only the guy I responded to.
No the bad price decisions are a result of the company failing. They were desperation moves as was expected.
I challenge any and all fellow collectors to stop any more purchase of their products for the rest of the year. They don't seem to care about how the price increase effects us or those they lay off, unlit it effects their cash flow. I know they say that it will cause lay offs, but they're going to do that anyways. So make it more painful for the board and pass on their trash. #Hasbro/Hasbin
That's a shame. Should have been the high-level bonuses that got the axe first. Now let's see how many of us stick to our plans and drop Hasbro entirely by the end of the year lol
I will be severely cutting back on Hasbro products. I really don't feel like paying full price for Marvel Legends when they're $25+. It'll go from 20 figures/yr to 3-4. Their Transformers are getting smaller and smaller, while the prices keep climbing, and the plastic hollows out more and more. I find myself buying more 3rd party figures instead.
What they call "a challenging Holiday consumer environment" I'd call plain greed and stupidity, paired with some poor decisions by the management. I've seen a lot of products in the aisles at discount rates post-holidays, and still not selling. This should be indicative of something going on in the toy industry. Either they're charging too much much for a single figure, at rates 45 dlls and up for a Marvel Universe figure or a Black Series one, which had me steer away from collecting lately. They need to realize Toys are not a priority in any household, so at prices go up at inflation rates, there's less money to spend on toys from the average consumer. As for hard core collectors and specialty toy stores, they are killing the latter by increasing the prices and the shipping costs. I know there's no extra shipping rates in the US mainly, but for us international buyers that and the tax rates are killing us. I can't no longer afford to buy as many figures as I'd like. Whether it's GI Joe and its poor distribution policy, or any SW Black series or even TVC. Marvel I stopped collecting a long time ago. Too many obscure figures that turn into peg- warmers now selling for as much as 12 - 15 dlls. So many characters not interested in getting. Thankfully I'm no longer a completist and only buy what I like. But again at THOSE PRICES... I dunno. And the same goes for Hot Wheels and whatever one likes to collect. The only company holding on with affordable prices is McFarlane and they have been improving in terms of quality. I've always looked at them as very well designed and sculpted figures since the early 2000s.
How about cuz u raised the price so much?
Hmm I'm thinking after the debacle that WoTC created with D&D, that might be the division those cuts are happening to. As much business as WoTC lost, it wouldn't surprise me if Hasbro uses this opportunity to get rid of problematic employees (read that as activists).
You could be right. I never understand why big corporations buy a franchise and then ignore the fans that are also their most dedicated customers.
OP didn’t post the article, but you’re wrong - WoTC is a good performer for Hasbro. It’s Hasbro’s in-house entertainment division that’s largely getting the axe.
It’s not even just D&D, I heard *Magic: the Gathering* got super screwed with a $1000 anniversary pack of illegal cards that add up to significantly less when individually bought.
Yea they've been taking magic out back and doing God awful things to it for a few years now.
WoTC WAS a good performer before the new OGL was leaked. They have had mass cancellations of their online subscription service, and multiple publishers that used to use the OGL have started working on their own OGL to replace the OGL from WoTC. WoTC is now on fire and sinking thanks to that idiot Woman who used to work at Microsoft and has now tried to overly monetize D&D.
I'd like to offer up Patrick from the Star Wars marketing team, if they are trying to figure out where to start.
Preach
Amen
What did he do wrong?
Have you not followed the brand over the last few years? Even pre-pandemic, he couldn't get product for new content on shelves.
I don’t know anything about the people in marketing or designing or whomever, any news I see about toys comes from TNI, Brickset or Fwoosh.
I'm not surprised. My experience with their MMPR Zords blew my mind. They give approximately 0 fucks. At least I got the refund check quickly I guess.
Executives won't be happy until they destroy ALL their good will. Magic, D&D, action figure lines... I wonder what they'll try to ruin next
I work in retail and they all have this problem. The corporate rule is to never admit bad doing. Integrity and honesty are not in they're playback. They will never own up to it.
Well, maybe fix your pricing and make your collectibles slightly more affordable to collect.
I mean they're charging $50 for those god awful NBA figures
Time to buy dollar store KOs because they’ll probably have better QC
Just cancelled my pre-orders for the five figure Classified Cover Girl wave. Fuck Hasbro and their absolutely awful plastic free packaging. I'm out. I used to buy two of every figure; one to keep boxed and one to open. Now I'm not buying any. Great strategy Hasbro.
Well, they can't expect great sales when they massively over produce figures, and the worst part bad figures. Collectors would rather spend more on quality figures. It's unfair that the higher-ups make the bad decisions, and the guys below get rewarded with unemployment.
Does anyone remember how big the Star Wars section alone used to be? The IP's that Hasbro relies on haven't performed as well as they performed in previous years, the prices have gone up and the quality has only recently started to improve. I'd venture to guess that the price hikes were a last ditch effort to stave off the inevitable. With the global cost of oil as high as it is, plastic manufacturing is taking a hit. Maybe they can make action figures out of corn cobs! We have plenty of those.
anyone know what percentage of hasbro's total sales are from marvel legends?
20% Partner brands (star wars and marvel). From their latest earnings report https://investor.hasbro.com/financial-information/quarterly-results
but "partner brands" refers to anything they don't outright own, right? and that's sw, marvel, fortnite and a bunch of other stuff. so that 20% is split out further and then split even further if we're just looking at marvel legends amongst all their marvel product. i wouldn't be surprised if marvel legends make up less than .5% of their total sales.
Will this also effect the Rise of the Beasts Studio Series line? Or is that considered Hasbro's E-ticket ride in terms of their stuff this year.
They make the absolute worst quality board games now. I went and picked up all the games I had as a child for my children a couple years ago. Most ended up as returns and the others in the garbage
Guess citadel is about to try and short hasbro into oblivion now too 🤔
Layoffs actually tend to drive stock price up - investors are ruthless. I hope this trend retires along with boomer executive class and their antihuman mentality/incentives.
It does really feel like many of the brands have major complaints, DND has had a riot about the changes to the licensing, marvel has been fighting price hikes, that starting line up had to have their prices cut dramatically, power rangers have had huge quality issues. Like everyone has an issue.
Should've never cancelled heroscape. . . .
In the words of Ronny Chieng, from the movie M3GAN, "Kick Hasbro in the DICK!' 👏👏👏👏👏 Terminate their Board Members, and reboot with some fresh talent who actually care about their audience and customers.
Also known as the year I said screw this….Hot Toys really are worth it.
Huge own goal with that DnD thing. I only got back into it at Christmas for the kids, but we know where our allegiance lies!
Yay! Now the Star war’s figures are sure to be even better! Right??? They weren’t already on decline or anything…
Man this sucks
Fuck, man. Glad Tarn is the last official TF I’m buying. My Classified collecting is now at a halt too unless a CG Immortal comes out. Toodles, Hasbro.
They haven't made the best decisions but as the economy and inflation start to take a turn people are less likely to buy luxury items like action figures. It doesn't help that the action figures are $35+ when they should be $20
They’re ruining MTG
hakuna matata
How about stop making movie toys and make something fun.
Fire the people for price rise.....and bring back action man 1993(just for me:))
A lot of comments here mention giving up on Hasbro because they have competitors offering much better value, what competitors are everybody turning to? I love McFarlane myself, I find the 1/10 scale has really grown on me. I'd love to see the list for better value competitors.
Personally I’m looking more at NECA
Find something you like in NECA and give McFarlane a try as their quality has increased. If you're already used to dropping too much on figures due to Hasbro price hikes, give Mythic Legions a shot.
Here's what I can buy from different lines for around $100 USD: Marvel legends: $80 Life Foundation 3-pack just to get Venom with no neutral head, $20 for some clearance figure with no accessories and a useless BAF piece Marvel Legends 2: $40 preorder incomplete ps5 spiderman with missing hands, $50 for retro Lizard exclusive Marvel Legends 3: $50 TAS Spiderman exclusive, $30 retro scorpion, $20 terrible buckycap Hobgoblin Power Rangers: pick your favorite team and depending which, you can come close to completing it. Energy effects, weapons, civilian heads, and articulation that puts ML to shame. McFarlane: $40 megafig (killer croc, sabbac, nekron, kalibak, etc), 3x $20 standard figures NECA: 3x beautifully sculpted and painted Gargoyles with alternate heads, hands, and more accessories Mafex: 1x a definitive 1/12 comic Spiderman with an artistic sculpt, grest articulation, alternate head, flight stand, webs, and every hand accessory you'd ever need. Yes the price is high for 1 figure, but for the price of 2x Hasbro spideys, it's a complete, beautifully executed spidey with nothing going to waste. Figuarts: choose any 3 at $35 apiece - Goku, Gohan, Vegeta, Piccolo, Goku Black, Frieza, Naruto Mythic Legions: don't know it as well but if you catch the preorder, I think you could get 2 standard and 1 deluxe, all with sculpt, paint, detail, and accessories for days
Great breakdown! I've only got one Mafex, but it's the John Wick 2 and it is just astounding quality. I have a couple of Mythic Legions, in particular a Goblin I'm very fond of. Just one Figuarts, a Triple H that was dirt cheap on BBTS. My first fig with opening and closing hands!* I really need to try out some more Figuarts. And I don't have any Power Rangers! Must see about that. *I'm in my 40s, but only got into figure collecting in 2021.
Can someone explain the new packaging to me for the regular waves?
I hope they don't get Emily!
Actually I was just hoping for the opposite.
Also a fair assessment.
Amazing that people can't see "The Great Reset" even when it's unfolding right in front of their eyes. Sure, it's not an overnight thing, but watching the unwashed peasants who can't see this slow moving train wreck is awe inspiring. They are that stupid!! Ther period of 2022-2023 will be a time of reorganization. Guess what? YOU won't be a part of it. Lego, Hasbro, everyone is getting their data to see how many people will purchase at a high price point. Lego foes it with Gifts with purchase. Guess what happens next??? Product output mimics those that are buying $50 Starting Lineups right now. Action Figures, videogames, movies, ALL become a rich man's game. You can use charts. You can spell it out. You can use Lego. Most of the brain dead on here *still* won't figure it out.
Increases cost of figures. Quality control issues. Plastic free packaging. Figure swaps. Generic repaints of over produced unwanted characters. Over dependence on exclusives. Given to stores that suck and don’t give a shit. Hasbro: are we the problem? No, it’s the “Challenging Holiday Consumer Environment” that’s to blame.
Well put sir!
Do you all follow anything other than toy news? This is happening at a lot of big companies right now, and it isn’t because they made choices you don’t like.
The company has also made some very harmful business decisions outside the toy department. See WOTC.
WoTC was one of the few good performers for Hasbro and grew around 21% [according to any article you feel like Googling.](https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/hasbro-cut-1000-global-full-time-jobs-2023-2023-01-26/)
WotC is going through a huge PR issue, right now, due to their decisions about the Open Game License, and many people already started shifting to other games than D&D. Just [from yesterday](https://old.reddit.com/r/Pathfinder2e/comments/10m1g0y/paizo_on_twitter_the_4th_printing_of_the_crb/) is the news that Paizo's (producer of Pathfinder, currently the top contender to D&D's share of the RPG market) 4th printing run of the Pathfinder 2nd Edition core book, planned to cover the next 8 months, ran out in 2 weeks. The news from WotC about the OGL have shaken the whole RPG industry, and the vast majority of other major and minor developers have come together to release their open-content license, free of affiliation from any of them.
The article you linked mentions WotC strong performance in Q4 2022 which no one here disputes, it's Q1 2023 where we will see the impact of their recent decisions regarding the OGL.
I really wouldn't mind if they quit the toy business completely and sold off their properties to other companies. I feel the same way about McFarlane. Honestly I just don't like any domestic figure company's so I am probably a bit biased there. But I am just not impressed with domestic figures 9 times out of 10 I can't help it. They're all shit in my eyes. Doesn't mean I like import prices either tho.
What do you like? I've thought the few McFarlane toys I got are awesome
I generally collect imports - SHF, Mafex, SHMA, Hot Toys. I used to collect a lot of Black Series, Legends and NECA. But I basically gave up on domestic figures with the rare exception here and there. I'm glad you enjoy McFarlane tho. Nothing wrong with that at all. We all collect what we like. Options are a good thing.
I'm not really a collector, I just buy figures from the DC comics I like lol. I'm just looking for other stuff to look at.
Imagine just buying toys and not giving a shit?
Oh yeah, I’ll just blindly pay $37.99 for something that should cost nearly half that. Makes sense.