The "Boba Fett Tax" explained by Hasbro!

[RoboKillah]

In any case, if I ordered a bacon cheeseburger with no bacon, it would be cheaper.

Because that's just a cheeseburger, which is a regular menu item? Now order that cheeseburger and take off the mustard and ketchup and pickles and onions.

You're paying the same price for a lot less. AKA Howard the Duck.

In Boba Fett's case, I feel more like we are getting a regular cheese burger and being charged for the condiments not the bacon.

I didn't buy Howard.

And for the record, I'm not defending shit. I'm actually agreeing, like we should pay less for something like Wicket or Yoda or a Jawa. But we don't. Like less food on our food. I guess I'm just not angry or constantly bringing it up enough.

Off to start a cheeseburger thread....

[Ash Talon]

One thing to consider is these Boba Fetts haven’t been part of a wave. They’re standalone releases. So there’s no balancing of the cost of a wave like in the past.

I have been seeing a lot of the anniversary carded Bobas at Target. Some stores are still selling through. But he does seem to last longer than previous Bobas. Maybe they’re just shipping more though.

[MisterPL]

Now let's check any of the newer mcfarlane figures. Witcher 3 Geralt has around 63 parts, again accessories included. About a fourth of them have paint detailing. Asking price was around $20. Now let's check out a neca figure. Remember these are 7", so more plastic is put into them. The only one I have near is the two pack Kratos. He has around 98 different pieces, including his multiple accessories. About 95% of them have some sort of paint application. Asking price was about $50, but that included the smaller Boy (still plenty articulated). So let's say $30, $35 for Kratos alone.

I know for a fact that Star Wars commands a significantly higher royalty rate and annual guarantee than any of the other licenses mentioned.

As a Star Wars licensee prior to the Disney acquisition, the company I worked for was hopeful that rates would drop because Disney rates had always been lower across the board. That didn't happen. Disney's been very aggressive about earning back on that $4 billion investment in Lucasfilm.

[MisterPL]

(Oh, and don't forget that the folks making your burgers overseas are earning more than three times more than they were a decade ago.)

[MickJohnson]

Hasbro is charging more, but... they kind-of have to. Inflation right now is being driven by a war in eastern Europe and energy resource pricing.

And guess where the raw material for all this plasticky goodness comes from. It's oil!

The cost of oil goes up and down seemingly on a whim. We all know it, we are all used to it, and it is hitting everyone in the hip pocket all the time all over the world. It is one of the big reasons why the cost of EVERYTRHING in the stupid economy gradually rises over time, and to balance it out people need to be paid more to be able to afford it, so that adds yet another increase in cost to companies who produce and ship stuff. It's not just a Hasbro thing, it is a whole-of-economy thing.

You are a frog in a pot of water and the temperature is gradually rising. You don't notice it because you slowly become accustomed to the temperature increase. Right now the inflation bump is outpacing the average wage by a larger margin than it was before 2020, so you notice this increase because it is happening over months instead of years.

What you gotta do is demand a wage increase. Ask your boss for more money. Ask the government to raise the minimum wage. Join a union. Vote accordingly.

And only buy one Boba Fett action figure a year.

[Ru_1977]

And only buy one Boba Fett action figure a year.

[MisterPL]

Ask the government to raise the minimum wage.

I'd love to see data on where most toy collectors are cutting back or dropping out completely. Is it states like Alabama, Texas, and Pennsylvania where the minimum wage is $7.25 or are folks in Washington ($15.74) and Massachusetts ($15.00) feeling the pain just as much?

[captaincracker]

I haven't bought or preordered a single one of these overpriced Fetts. I have so many figures of him that I just can't justify it. If I were new to collecting, I would probably cave in, but I can honestly say I could be quite content to never buy another Boba Fett figure.

[MisterPL]

I've been collecting Boba Fett figures since proofs of purchase could get one mailed to you. Ideally, I want a definitive figure so if it's an upgrade, I get it. If not, I pass.

Having just gotten back into collecting after a hiatus of a few years, the barbell neck alone is a significant and weird upgrade. My first Fett was made up of two arms, two legs, a head, and a torso with a rocket glued into the backpack. It was certainly more colorful than most of the figures I had at the time but it was free.

Fast forward more than four decades and things have changed, not just with the figure but with licensing, manufacturing, and the marketplace. Gone are the days when new content was launched with an assortment of a dozen figures, a couple vehicles, and playsets to go with them. There's too much to keep up with and no benefit of hindsight like Kenner had in 1977. Today, it's a crapshoot for everyone involved, especially investors.

Yes, greed is the reason retail prices are so high while wages remain so low. It's not just Hasbro and the people currently running it. It's their suppliers, their vendors, their retail partners, and their licensors, most of whom have to maintain a bloated bottom line to keep investors happy. In my experience, publicly traded companies aren't run the same way as privately held organizations. That's the difference between McFarlane and Hasbro.

I have a tough time imagining Hasbro or anyone else topping what I now consider to be the definitive Boba Fett figures in my collection so I'm unlikely to add more outside of significant costume changes. I'm curious to see if the Boba Fett tax will apply to the inevitable Tython carded figure that's packed with Slave 1 his Firespray starship.

[AgentLionel]

I think a time is coming when Hasbro might have to fully commit to adult collectors. Right now they are half in, half out. Their products don’t compete with import companies—flimsier plastic, more reuse, less paint apps, less hands/portraits, poorer likenesses for the most part, and so on. But the thing is here—and where the animosity might come from—is that they pay to not compete with them. Their licenses for 6inch are exclusive in the US and some other countries, meaning Bandai/MAFEX can’t distribute here like Hasbro can. If they could, their product would be cheaper—they could expand their customer base and sell in more shops, here. But Hasbro has them on lock. In a way, they pay to not compete, and their competitors need to charge more based on smaller runs.

What Hasbro offers over their competition is ease of purchase and lower price. That’s their main advantage. When they are hard to buy, or more expensive, they drop in value. GI Joe Classifieds aren’t really that mind blowing, they are just more value—better engineering and more accessories, because we as consumers don’t perceive a “brand cost” as being valuable.

What if Hasbro did a $40-$50 figure with import quality articulation, tons of hands/portraits/accessories, better painting, etc? Could they even do it? My new MAFEX Classic Spider-Man was $54 (import only) My Dragon Ball Super Piccolo was $35 (sold domestically at Targets) — could they use their exclusive license to make a more expensive but higher value product? Instead of a still kinda cheap but lacks value product?

[Bashbash99]

What Hasbro offers over their competition is ease of purchase and lower price. That’s their main advantage. When they are hard to buy, or more expensive, they drop in value. GI Joe Classifieds aren’t really that mind blowing, they are just more value—better engineering and more accessories, because we as consumers don’t perceive a “brand cost” as being valuable.

What if Hasbro did a $40-$50 figure with import quality articulation, tons of hands/portraits/accessories, better painting, etc? Could they even do it? My new MAFEX Classic Spider-Man was $54 (import only) My Dragon Ball Super Piccolo was $35 (sold domestically at Targets) — could they use their exclusive license to make a more expensive but higher value product? Instead of a still kinda cheap but lacks value product?

I would argue that breadth is another feature of the hasbro lines, altho it is certainly more pronounced in Marvel Legends than Black series. Basically, a collector can build up a large diverse collection of characters pretty quickly just by keeping up with new releases. That doesn't really seem possible with the import companies altho as you say some of that is to due to Hasbro blocking them.

Didn't Hasbro try and do a higher end line at one point? I seem to remember larger figures with much more articulation, maybe they just made Darth and/or Luke? Anyhow iirc that line didn't really get very far - although of course it was also not 1:12 scale

[MisterPL]

Perceived value is definitely a challenge for any manufacturer.

Hasbro has to contend with certain end consumers who don't fully appreciate the amount of effort it takes to create these things. A significant portion of collectors don't even bother opening these toys so play value means nothing to them. They just want to see the toy in the package (unless it's the Sail Barge or Razor Crest in which case it could be a $500 brick).

Even openers tend to see things in terms of scale. "Why do I have to pay so much more for this when the same size figure over there is so much less?" Maybe Boba Fett should just fall into the deluxe price point from now on, even without cool accessories like this:

[KvHulk]

Hasbro should be releasing an entire line of figures at once and span the costs equally across every figure.
This preordering figures one by one is lame.

[Reefer Shark]

Maybe Boba Fett should just fall into the deluxe price point from now on, even without cool accessories like this:

I'm pretty sure he already has. Though we haven't had a single carded release outside of store exclusives since the last regular wave Fett (TVC ROTJ card), so I suppose we can't say with certainty until we see another Fett in a regular wave.

[Trunks3540]

I have that Boba Fett. It was always so much fun. I loved playing with it when I was younger. They won't do awesome stuff like that anymore.

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