Why do toy companies have to double dip?

[anarky]

Really. It's fucking annoying. It's bad enough for lines that are collected by adults who have lots of disposable income. But the shit for kids?

What killed me on collecting Galactic Heroes until I gave up? The nonstop "re-release of one or five figures to get one new one" was bullshit. Same with the regular SW figures. Why would I have to buy another pegwarming POS Xizor to get SOTE Leia, when Guri made more sense? How many times can they re-release the same Han Solo or Darth Vader? Hey, two new, cool figures, with the same fricking Y-Wing? Oh, wow, they finally released the canceled Legacy Hoth Trooper; I just have to buy the other one and a redone K-3PO of all things to get it.

GIJoe multipacks, really, how much mileage can they get out of Snake Eyes and Duke? Hey, look, they made the original Hawk and Breaker in comic packs; you just have to re-buy Scarlett and Destro to get them.

This is not just Hasbro by any means.

I saw some two-packs of Galactic Heroes-sized Sesame Street figures. Obviously, who wants these? They had about ten different characters. Trouble is, every pack was the same Elmo with one of the other nine. Really. Not even resculpt Elmos. The same frigging one. That'd be fine, if Elmo were a Stormtrooper.

The latest one I noticed is Dinosaur Train, another one entirely for kids. I get the whole set for A Jr for Christmas, and what do I see yesterday? They released new ones. And they finally put a checklist on the back. Only, you have to buy two existing figures to get one new one. They released what looks like six new characters. Really, why not just put them in two packs.

Really, why is this? Why are the toy companies so consumed with screwing kids (and collectors)? Don't they realize that a lot of people won't buy stuff they have, especially in this economy?

And the first person to recite the bullshit answer that the companies don't believe they can sell anything without the core characters gets a cyberkick in the nuts. That explains making sure Buddy the T-Rex or Elmo is in every case, but not every package.

[vynsane]

so they can get more money?

[anarky]

Yeah, that's the obvious answer, but they run a real risk of not selling stuff. That stupid 9-pack of figures isn't exactly flying off Target shelves, even with the impossible-to-find Utris M'toc stuck in there.

Like with the Dino Train stuff, I would've gone for a complete set, but there's no way I'm army-building the Pteranodon family to get a handful of newer characters. (The way they're doing it, if there's a wave 3 and anyone bought all the sets, they'd probably have sixteen Buddies.) I'm sure a lot of parents think the same way I do. They're not even in different poses (which Hasbro has done a lot with Galactic Heroes, to their credit). And I can't imagine anyone buying more than one of those Sesame Street sets I mentioned.

Just seems like a really short-sighted strategy to me.

[vynsane]

Yeah, that's the obvious answer, but they run a real risk of not selling stuff [...] Just seems like a really short-sighted strategy to me.

it totally is, but that's the only thing they see - the short-sighted, short-term goal, BUT... not everyone is a collector. they really still believe that the random shopper is a better bet than the die-hard collector, and that if elmo is in every package, someone, anyone, is going to buy it because every kid loves elmo, and they get this other thing that i don't recognize, but the kid will probably also like that one.

a similar thing is happening right now with the LEGO Collectible Minifigures. series 3 was just unveiled on the LEGO site, and the MSRP has increased by a dollar, from $1.99 to $2.99. a LOT of the adult LEGO fans are complaining, saying they're going to only buy the ones they really like, when for $1.99, they bought an entire set of 16 (including multiples of the ones they really liked) for previous series' - myself included. it seems LEGO quickly found the tipping point between highly-sought-after and not-really-worth-it. the production run for CMFs3 is purported to be much higher than the preceding two series', so that double-whammy makes it seem that LEGO has really shot themselves in the foot, and early in the game. if series 3 had come out at $2.25, i probably wouldn't think twice about collecting the entire set, but an entire dollar jump with only two sets behind us has really quelled the fervor for these things.

[Rollo Tomassi]

95% of toy purchasers aren't collectors/completists.

Stormtrooper Elmos would kick the hizzy. Imagine red stormtrooper armor, with googly eyes on the helmet.

[anarky]

Up until the point where they all say, "Stormtrooper Elmo loves you."

[Elmo]

Ha ha! He He! Stormtrooper Elmo loves all of you! Yay!

[Darth Vader]

I HAVE YOU NOW!