Question #3: from August 3, 2010:

In your opinion, do you think that one mega retailer, the largest in the world, has the power to kill a toy line if they choose not to offer it? If they had enough money to warrant their own exclusives, and they didn't sell well enough for their standards, and therefore not only limited their buy in on a second exclusive wave, but decided against renewing their purchase of the main line, do you think they could have caused a toy manufacturer to cancel all further waves? (OK, I will address the elephants in the room: Wal-Mart, comic packs, Hasbro.)
--Rpbert

My answer from 2010 With commentary from 2025:

Generally speaking either Wal-Mart or Toys "R" Us have the power to kill some lines by not offering them. Of course, it's up to the manufacturer to decide if the loss of that much business is worth killing their R&D, but Wal-Mart is responsible for things like smaller casepack sizes and the creation of G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 as a higher price-point toy. Toys "R" Us helped kill (and then bring back) G.I. Joe in the 3 3/4-inch size in the 1990s.

I don't believe Wal-Mart specifically had anything to do with the death of the comic packs-- but if you look over the past year, Hasbro shipped something like 3 (or 5) new ones in 2009. That's pathetic. No matter the reasoning, Hasbro's actions show that either retail demand or their own preferences made sense to axe this one. It really doesn't matter why in the grand scheme of things, because if Hasbro tightened up, retail orders would go down, and if retail orders go down, Hasbro would likely cut back. Now, Hasbro has a lot of outlets to sell to, but Wal-Mart, Target, and Toys "R" Us make up a significant chunk of that. I don't have specific numbers but if you consider your shopping habits, I think 75% or more of Hasbro's dollars in the USA may well come from those 3 these days, especially since Kay-Bee is gone and Kmart is a weaker player than they used to be.

The comic pack line seems kind of like any other line that ran out of steam at retail before all the development on them was used up-- so it seems there are many opportunities to get these into the marketplace, although not necessarily at the Big Three. The line seems to do well with new product, but we saw a huge glut. If you ask me-- and nobody really often does-- the problem came from Hasbro's management of the SKU. These shipped in assortment 87503 since 2007, and to give you a comparison, the basic Star Wars figures have had two different SKUs since 2007 (30th Anniversary was one, Build-A-Droid Legacy was another, and if you want to count the tail-end, The Saga Collection was a third.) By not discontinuing the old SKU, flushing out the old product, and bringing in the new product in a new SKU (like they do for pretty much everything else), a lot of old inventory got backed up. And the 2008 Summer comic pack inventory was the worst offender-- here in Los Angeles I can get you all the Xizor/Leias and Thrawn/Karrdes you could want. Which is a shame, because Thrawn should have sold well.

We did see a few times where Walmart sat out a line here or there, but nothing ended based on that alone. Curiously (more in "FIN") we've seen lines propped up exclusively by one store.

In 2018 we lost Toys R Us, and the entire 3 3/4-inch kiddo line shriveled away about a year later. After Solo we got a series of reissues of older figures in clear plastic canister packaging (no new molds, you skipped/forgot them all), which tended to get shelved below eye level. They drew little interest from fans who already purchased these figure molds over the previous decade. The loss of Toys R Us' shelf space resulted in dramatic reductions of a lot of toys - we don't get 3 3/4-inch vehicles very much any more. There are few to no exclusive figure boxed sets in a store anymore. The kid line is... unsatisfying in terms of quantity.

Other toy lines have also seen their shelf space changed up. There aren't as many Transformers exclusives, the kid offering has been streamlined a bit - but may be bouncing back in a neat way this year. Playmobil's US presence has diminished significantly. I don't feel like I'm seeing as many toy cars from non-Mattel companies, the action figure category in general seems to have shrank a lot, and price points have largely shot up across the board. But a lot of those higher-end items all moved online - so the loss of one big store has changed the market a lot. Well, that and COVID-19.

There are some categories of the business that seem to be a little short despite some retail demand - The Retro Collection comes to mind as being underserved. 18 figures last year, 6 this year... but stores want them, and certain fans really want them. We never got a proper The Mandalorian 3 3/4-inch line despite it being a bona fide cultural phenomenon. Losing a massive pillar of the business pivoted things toward "collector" really quickly too, and I can't help but wonder how many other toys will never exist just because the landscape for selling action toys has shifted so abruptly away from actual toys.

For the curious, one not-so-mega retailer was there to help bring the Hasbro action figure comic packs to an end. Entertainment Earth took the last sets in November 2010, and I really miss those sets. During their run, you got two full-size figures and a comic book for $10-$20. That's unthinkable today, even at adjusted-for-inflation prices.

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FIN

What's kind of funny is we're seeing the opposite - the only store carrying The Retro Collection is Target. (Other stores are asking for stuff to sell, but only Target has any right now.) Amazon propped up the 5-inch Galaxy of Adventure figures for a hot minute after that 2019 line sank, and Walmart has a window or possibly the exclusive on Mixmashers this year. That's another line you probably completely ignored, as they are very similar to Hero Mashers, which you just happened to ignore when those were out in 2015.

I assume the calculous could change for The Vintage Collection or The Black Series - but a good figure is a good figure, and people will show up if you make the right item. A big chain really can support a whole line themselves provided the order quantity is in line with the market need, which it seems we may be seeing with The Retro Collection. (The $60+ box limits who would care to buy it, of course.)

It's also worth noting a lot of lines are seeing the entire license given to a company as a timed exclusive. Right now, Walmart has Playmates Mighty Mortphin Power Rangers Re-Ignition line before anybody else. It started showing up about a month and a bit ago... and I started seeing it on clearance two weeks ago. I'm really curious to see if this is an accident or if it died on arrival. I'm assuming I'm just seeing a weird seasonal fluke, but again, Walmart shows that it can make a big request and put its considerable weight behind an entire brand. I don't think I've seen Jazwares' Sega figures anywhere else either.

So if you have a big store, go to Hasbro and spend all your boss' money on something cool.

--Adam Pawlus

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