...Make me think that some of those later D+ waves and some of the Avengers series really tanked...
Maybe if Hasbro made some A+ waves they wouldn't end up at Ollie's 🤔
My first WTF moment at Ollie's was earlier this year when I saw over 100 Joel Embiids at one nearby. 😱
@mrboshek That isn't why these waves are there. This is a result of a spike in demand during Covid due to Stimulus check spending and other factors that saw sales go up and retail orders go up dramatically ... by the time production caught up to that trend the demand curve had changed and so these waves that are currently at Ollies were over produced and got clearanced in a huge way. It happened across the board to multiple lines and wasn't just Legends that was impacted. This has way more to do with macro economic factors than it does specific character inclusion.
It also happened to coincide with a downturn in general popularity (whether quality or acceptance) of MCU offerings as well to further depress sales.
But, you do have a point that if they only released a line of Spider-Man, Wolverine, Captain America and Iron Man - they might have less left overs that hit the clearance aisle initially. Until all the collectors left out of sheer boredom and the line died completely.
Saw a shelf tag at Target that said the Luke Cage/Iron Fist set was on sale for 34.99. Of course, that Target had none in stock. Target's website is still saying 49.99.
@panthercult That was more of a satirical comment of someone shouting from the peanut gallery. I couldn't resist playing of the D+ abbreviation.
Don't even getting me started on people spending stimulus checks on toys or those who were collecting unemployment + $600 per week and are now complaining about inflation.
@panthercult That was more of a satirical comment of someone shouting from the peanut gallery. I couldn't resist playing of the D+ abbreviation.
Don't even getting me started on people spending stimulus checks on toys or those who were collecting unemployment + $600 per week and are now complaining about inflation.
Fair enough... joke sailed right over my head.
And yeah - the reckless spending of those stimulus checks was something to behold.
Mattel Creations is running a 40% off sale right now, among qualifying items is Masterverse Mainframe, Vykron, Evil Lyn exclusives, and the 40th Anniversary Origins He-Man 4pk.
I deleted before I could post it the first time, but since it's being doubled down on - it's not accurate to attribute the boom in collecting and other hobbies to "stimulus check spending." Consumer behavior shifted massively away from services due to lockdowns and social distancing, and that plus the stimulus were the drivers of big booms in hobbies like ours. Laying it all on stimulus spending is just not a fair representation of what happened.
H-bird is right. People not going on vacation, going out with friends and family, or eating at restaurants for 18 months had a lot more to do with the influx of disposable income than a few thousand dollars of stimulus money.
Without sales data, we can't draw any conclusions. Extra figures getting liquidated at Ollie's doesn't mean much. The fact that there are a fuckton of companies making a fuckton of toys from a fuckton of different IPs indicates that the industry is doing well. The industry is as healthy now as I can ever remember.
If you think toy demand is directly connected to the economy (and I would agree), it should be higher than ever. The Biden economy is booming by every meaningful statistic.
Most banks and retailers are stating consumers are tapped out and to expect weaker sales even at Christmas. Sure folks can use their credit cards to buy necessities to accrue points, but the fact that they're also having to dip into savings to do so indicates there is less joy to be had in Mudville and less booming going on and more blowout to be felt.
I was hoping someone would ask for receipts. On election day, of all days.
First off, MarketWatch is owned by Rupert Murdoch. You know, the Fox News guy. The media has been signaling an imaginary recession for the entire Biden presidency. Why would they stop now when their guy could take back power today?
The stock market has surged to record highs.
The U.S. has had by far the best COVID recovery on earth. Thanks, Joe Biden!
Wages and employment are at all-time highs. Unemployment has been under 4% for the longest stretch in 50 years. "Wage growth for low-income working Americans has been so much stronger than for other groups that it has led to a decline in wage inequality, undoing roughly one-third of its growth since 1980."
Wages have outpaced inflation.
We have a real, labor-first economic policy for the first time since FDR. Let's not hand the reins back to the oligarchs.
H-bird is right. People not going on vacation, going out with friends and family, or eating at restaurants for 18 months had a lot more to do with the influx of disposable income than a few thousand dollars of stimulus money.
You are right - "Stimulus Check" was my lazy, inaccurate short-hand for all of that you outline above, and I shouldn't have done that. Because you're absolutely correct, the shift in spending to hobbie related goods was due to a shift away from spending on ALL of the other things people couldn't spend money on during the pandemic
Without sales data, we can't draw any conclusions. Extra figures getting liquidated at Ollie's doesn't mean much.
So, that's fair to an extent - except that we do have some data including statements from people at Hasbro, financial statements and sales data reporting from Hasbro, massive layoffs at Hasbro which suggest that what we heard about the glut of product going to remainder stores was probably accurate. And this didn't just happen to Hasbro there were similar if not identical patterns with McFarlane and Super7 at the very least.
The fact that there are a fuckton of companies making a fuckton of toys from a fuckton of different IPs indicates that the industry is doing well. The industry is as healthy now as I can ever remember.If you think toy demand is directly connected to the economy (and I would agree), it should be higher than ever.
So, it's possible that both things are true? Spending habits shifted back post pandemic and the so the glut of hobby spending still went down, even though the economy has continued to get better overall. Additionally as you say there is more competition than ever for COLLECTOR dollars, and lines like Marvel Legends (and McFarlane too) have become more and more reliant on the collector market. With so much choice for those collectors they are being pickier about how they spend those dollars and may be buying more from Fresh Monkey Fiction or 4 Horsemen or Japanese imports and may be buying less of the $25 figures from Target and WalMart even if they are spending as much as ever on action figures.
H-bird is right. People not going on vacation, going out with friends and family, or eating at restaurants for 18 months had a lot more to do with the influx of disposable income than a few thousand dollars of stimulus money.
You are right - "Stimulus Check" was my lazy, inaccurate short-hand for all of that you outline above, and I shouldn't have done that. Because you're absolutely correct, the shift in spending to hobbie related goods was due to a shift away from spending on ALL of the other things people couldn't spend money on during the pandemic
That was my assumption and why I didn't say anything the first time, because it's an easy enough simplification to make! Just wanted to chime in since it got a little bit of traction.
Thanks to TSI for providing the actual receipts!
Without sales data, we can't draw any conclusions. Extra figures getting liquidated at Ollie's doesn't mean much.
So, that's fair to an extent - except that we do have some data including statements from people at Hasbro, financial statements and sales data reporting from Hasbro, massive layoffs at Hasbro which suggest that what we heard about the glut of product going to remainder stores was probably accurate. And this didn't just happen to Hasbro there were similar if not identical patterns with McFarlane and Super7 at the very least.
This is a good point - we don't have the actual numbers, but Hasbro has clearly communicated that the clearances we've seen have been a problem. I maintain that we can't draw any conclusions about what performs better based on what shows up at Ollie's, because it's likely the movie tie-ins are getting made in way higher number - but the clearance in general is something they're trying to mitigate, which means it's not a non-issue for them.
This is anecdotal, but the Ollie's locations I go to are always choked with Marvel Legends and Star Wars above all else, and I have to assume that part of Hasbro's specific problem is that the Phase 4 downturn for the former and the general backlash against the latter caused significant damage to those lines. And when those are your flagship figure lines, that feels like it would make a dent even if Hasbro has so many other offerings (which are not necessarily all healthy; in particular I know WotC has been having major problems). There are obviously wider market implications at play, and I think a lot of toy companies overproduced during Covid in response to increasing interest in collecting, but brand health does matter. For instance, you tend to see far fewer WWE figures on clearance or at discount stores, and that's a brand that's had an extremely hot couple of years. And that's a line that produces constantly in high numbers.
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