[FormerTitanium]

That is amazing...Yet so sad that it's limited...I hope it becomes available in the future for all fans to buy.

[goldblade6]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kickback

I know a lot of people are throwing Bandai of America under the bus hardcore for this...

Sometimes it just doesn't fit in to the marketing plan of the company, and sometimes it's because no one wants to carry it. Who is to say that TRU wasn't offered this as part of a Holiday exclusive and rejected because it only caters to one/two Rangers, or because it may confuse consumers as they had the rights to the first one? Who is to say that WalMart and Target didn't reject the offer of this being an exclusive? Who is to say this is THE ONLY WAY they could release this out and because they're selling it directly as opposed to mass distribution, could only afford to make xx amount?

No one except those involved know, and we can ask those questions to Bandai at the show but until then it's pretty much a crap-shoot as to what the reasoning behind it was.

I doubt Bandai of America execs sat in an ivory tower thinking of ways to fuck over the Power Rangers community.

That's awfully understanding of you, but honestly, any retailer would jump at the chance to have as their exclusive an item that fans have been begging for for the past 20 years. Everyone loves the 6th rangers - especially Green and White (Tommy). There's also no good reason Bandai couldn't have shipped the morphers in a case of 3:1 ratio of silver to gold, like any other case assortment any company has ever done. Frankly, I haven't seen the silver morpher on the shelves at my TRU even once yet. I don't think TRU would have any problem ordering or selling more - even a special gold version.

The morpher is probably too expensive an exclusive for places like Walmart or Target who, if anything, seem to be cutting back on the size and scale of their toy aisles, but Toys R Us who loves $290 Millennium Falcon exclusives, or other online retailers? There is no way they would turn this down. The sales of an item like this are just guaranteed. At least half of the people who buy the silver morpher would buy the gold one as well. Then there are others who would only really care about the gold one!

Bandai did this only to get attention, even if it is at the cost of disappointing and offending their loyal customers. Even if Bandai were planning on releasing some lower quality version of these exclusives later on, this is such a rude an inconsiderate way to announce this to fans - without any further information or insight. If people think Mattel is bad with customer relations and SDCC decisions, they should check out Bandai. The show has reached a new low.

[Den-O]

Quote:

Originally Posted by goldblade6

That's awfully understanding of you, but honestly, any retailer would jump at the chance to have as their exclusive an item that fans have been begging for for the past 20 years. Everyone loves the 6th rangers - especially Green and White (Tommy). There's also no good reason Bandai couldn't have shipped the morphers in a case of 3:1 ratio of silver to gold, like any other case assortment any company has ever done. Frankly, I haven't seen the silver morpher on the shelves at my TRU even once yet. I don't think TRU would have any problem ordering or selling more - even a special gold version.

The morpher is probably too expensive an exclusive for places like Walmart or Target who, if anything, seem to be cutting back on the size and scale of their toy aisles, but Toys R Us who loves $290 Millennium Falcon exclusives, or other online retailers? There is no way they would turn this down. The sales of an item like this are just guaranteed. At least half of the people who buy the silver morpher would buy the gold one as well. Then there are others who would only really care about the gold one!

Bandai did this only to get attention, even if it is at the cost of disappointing and offending their loyal customers. Even if Bandai were planning on releasing some lower quality version of these exclusives later on, this is such a rude an inconsiderate way to announce this to fans - without any further information or insight. If people think Mattel is bad with customer relations and SDCC decisions, they should check out Bandai. The show has reached a new low.

You talk as though retailers acknowledge fan and collector demand. Which they do not. That's not even close to a factor when they choose toy lines and or the exclusives from them to carry. If the line sells poorly then they don't carry the exclusive. It's simple math for the big corporations, they literally do not care about how many people love those characters.

Walmart/Target/ToysRus/etc cater to children first and foremost. If they feel there is a dedicated demand based on sales numbers to carry a particular product or line then they will. But if the numbers don't indicate it then they won't. It's just a simple truth that collectors do not make up as significant a portion of the toy market as we often like to think.

[goldblade6]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Den-O

You talk as though retailers acknowledge fan and collector demand. Which they do not. That's not even close to a factor when they choose toy lines and or the exclusives from them to carry. If the line sells poorly then they don't carry the exclusive. It's simple math for the big corporations, they literally do not care about how many people love those characters.

Walmart/Target/ToysRus/etc cater to children first and foremost. If they feel there is a dedicated demand based on sales numbers to carry a particular product or line then they will. But if the numbers don't indicate it then they won't. It's just a simple truth that collectors do not make up as significant a portion of the toy market as we often like to think.

Retailers don't acknowledge fan or collector demand? Are you kidding?

Certain retailers, Toys R Us especially, absolutely acknowledge fan/collector demand. Why else would they bother producing an exclusive or carrying a certain product or line? Because it will sell, because there is demand, from kids and moms, sure, but also from collectors - often, mainly from collectors.

Do you think Walmart ordered an exclusive Movie Masters Jim Gordon from Dark Knight Rises so a mom and her kids could by a guy with a mustache in a trench coat? Or that K-Mart included "blueprints" with its own exclusive Movie Masters Batman? Or that Target would order a whole wave of Marvel Legends exclusive to its stores? These are all collector-aimed lines. The manufacturer acknowledges that, so why wouldn't the retailer? They may sell to kids, too, sure, but there is a clear line between collector products and kid products, and to say that retailers don't acknowledge fan or collector demand is just ignorant.

Do you think Toys R Us expects to sell many $60 legacy morphers to mothers and their children? No. Or how about a $60 Megazord that is currently being featured on air? Please. Who in there right mind, aside from a collector, is likely to pay $60 for a legacy morpher? For mothers and kids, Bandai makes and Toys R Us sells some affordable $8 figures of the current, main characters. The legacy morpher, and items of that nature, cater to collectors. The retailers know/"acknowledge" that. Mothers and kids might also buy these products, but retailers do not sell them primarily for that audience.

Does Toys R Us carry Freddy Kruger or Prometheus or Mortal Kombat figures for mom and kid consumption? Please. Those are for collectors - almost exclusively, because the figures will sell, because there is collector demand, which the retailer is acknowledging by carrying and selling the product.

Retailers don't run their whole toy departments or stores for collectors, but they absolutely acknowledge them, cater to them, and include them in their business model.

So, what's your point? That the sales of the legacy morpher wouldn't justify a gold version? Or that Bandai couldn't sell Toys R Us on the idea, especially after the regular release and other 20th exclusives that have been flying off the shelves and selling out online? Give me a break.

[Den-O]

My point is that we can argue over this all day, I don't care. But that's simply NOT how retail works. It's a numbers game based on purchases by mass consumers, not what a community of collectors buys.

If TRU didn't think they could move an exclusive in enough quantity to justify as small of a production run as exclusives normally get, then they wouldn't carry it. This is just like how Transformer collectors demand retailers carry this or that in larger quantities. Because exclusives are "too hard" to get. They think they dictate the market and they most certainly do not. Mass consumers do, not the thin sliver of collectors that rabidly buy these things. They acknowledge some demand, but not in the numbers you're suggesting.

Retailers don't order exclusives because "obviously collectors will buy this". They order them based on incentive from the manufacturers that consumers will come to them to purchase it because no other retail chain will be able to carry it. It's the very nature of an exclusive. You get customers for it because you're the only one carrying it. Again it has nothing to do with appealing to a collector oriented fan base. It just has to do with sales numbers. If you're the only game in town on a product, if you monopolize it, then you have good sales.

In special cases, yes a place like ToysRUs will carry high end items like that but just look now. Once the initial waves of collectors got their Legacy Megazords, Morphers, and Shinken Oh's they've begun to shelf warm. There are 20 Legacy Megazords at my local TRU alone! I'm sorry but retailers acknowledge pretty thin portions of the collector market. You're using TRU as an example and outside of it and or comic/speciality shops the big box retailers DO NOT carry collector themed toy product. Exclusive does not always = collector oriented.

[goldblade6]

...Ok...

[MnemonicSyntax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orange Ranger

No, but it also wasn't about creating secondary market value for resellers and it definitely is now for the most part.

Well, with the ability to buy and sell on the internet, that's changed of course, but there's always been an issue of supply versus demand which has added more coin to the "scalper's pockets." It's just that during the recent years, it's become much more noticeable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by goldblade6

...Ok...

No, Den-O is right. You're examples are, as Den-O said, one offs. The best example is if your argument was correct, why isn't Mattel putting those MOTU figures, or the Ghostbuster line in stores?

The toy manufacturers give retailers a chance to sell an "exclusive" items, but those toy manufacturers give those retailers an incentive to do so, making it, a numbers and dollar signs game.

The fact that retailers sell "exclusive" or "limited edition" items from lines doesn't equate to "hey, we care about the collectors market" it's that they got paid by the manufacturer enough to cover any losses that come up because they take a chance on such items for "shelf warming."

Shinken-Red and Gold, are a prime example of this.

[goldblade6]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MnemonicSyntax

No, Den-O is right. You're examples are, as Den-O said, one offs. The best example is if your argument was correct, why isn't Mattel putting those MOTU figures, or the Ghostbuster line in stores?

The toy manufacturers give retailers a chance to sell an "exclusive" items, but those toy manufacturers give those retailers an incentive to do so, making it, a numbers and dollar signs game.

The fact that retailers sell "exclusive" or "limited edition" items from lines doesn't equate to "hey, we care about the collectors market" it's that they got paid by the manufacturer enough to cover any losses that come up because they take a chance on such items for "shelf warming."

Shinken-Red and Gold, are a prime example of this.

Yeah, and I guess the whole collector-oriented aisle in every Toys R Us store isn't for collectors. Toys R Us just figures that moms are going to buy nightmarish statues of horror movie characters for their kids. What are you guys smoking?

[MnemonicSyntax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by goldblade6

Yeah, and I guess the whole collector-oriented aisle in every Toys R Us store isn't for collectors. Toys R Us just figures that moms are going to buy nightmarish statues of horror movie characters for their kids. What are you guys smoking?

I don't think you read what I said. TRU doesn't care about the collector, they get their money either way, if it shelf warms or otherwise.

Of course, everything at TRU is ridiculously priced, and that's a large part of the reason.

TRU gets the lion's share of the "collector's market" because it's a niche store. There's a Walmart or a Kmart nearly everywhere, but TRUs are few and far between. It doesn't mean TRU actually gives a damn.

Also, last time I went to TRU, there was no such aisle. Are you positive every TRU has a "collectors aisle?" Even if they did, it's essentially the "aisle that if we don't sell the items and they shelf warm, we're still getting our money for, regardless."

[Den-O]

Quote:

Originally Posted by goldblade6

Yeah, and I guess the whole collector-oriented aisle in every Toys R Us store isn't for collectors. Toys R Us just figures that moms are going to buy nightmarish statues of horror movie characters for their kids. What are you guys smoking?

Why are you fighting this so hard? We're even conceding that ToysRus 2 precious aisles worth of "collector" toys exist. They included 2 year old unsold Captain Actions, NECA figures, minimates, and some DCUC, among the various other unsold unclearanced Bioshock toys and other back log junk. If that's the definition of collector oriented then I must be buying babies play things with my Chogokins and SHF's.

Do you know how many ToyRus there are in my state? 4. Versus how many numerous Walmarts, Targets, Meijiers, and other big box retailers? ToysRus is NOT INDICATIVE OF THE MARKET AS A WHOLE. They carry a selection of "higher end" collectibles, not all of which are exclusives, not all of which are collector oriented. Again exclusive does NOT equal meant for collectors. You're trying to make up factors that the market supposedly relies on when it doesn't. One chain of stores does not support your theory.