Blog Entry: I’m Quitting the Line!!!

I’m Quitting the Line!!!

Recently, Playkit, the Philippine distributor of Marvel and Transformers toys here in the Philippines made a few announcements that have been causing waves on local forum boards. The first was the announcement that they’ve decided not to import the last few figures of the Transformers Animated (TFA) line, which included the Cybertorn Ratchet, Rodimus and the much sought-after, Arcee.

While this was devastating news to us TFA fans, it was not unexpected. The sales of the TFA line were pretty dismal in the region, only picking up in the Philippines once the toys hit the bargain bin with discounts reaching 70% towards the end. There were many things to blame for the lack of sales; the cartoon was not on the air to promote the toys, tough economic times meant less casual shoppers buying these increasingly expensive toys, and a new breed of “BOTO” (Buy One Take One) collectors who waited until toys hit the sale aisle before purchasing.

Sadly, we took another hit this week when it was announced that the first and second waves of the Marvel Universe Hammer Files were also a casualties of the failed negotiations with Playkit and Hasbro. These included much anticipated figures like the Extremis Iron Man, Black Widow and Oliver Coipel’s Thor, along with some nice mutant figures like Sunfire, and Warpath, and the Classic Captain America and Bucky.

The announcement that we would not be seeing these figures has triggered an odd sort of backlash on the boards that I for one find disheartening. Not only are people actively blaming the distributor for the decision, they are proposing petitions, threatening boycotts of big toy stores and asking smaller importers to take up the slack. These steps are of course, futile.

The decision of Playkit was, I’m sure, a perfectly legitimate business decision. If you go to any retail toy store here in the Philippines, you will see that Marvel toys aren’t the biggest seller on the shelves. Long after the hype is over we see lots of peg warmers that remain for months on end.

Like the market in the States, the popular figures and those that are short-packed are the ones that are taken first and the “long-packed” ones are normally variants of the “big 10″ Mavel characters; Wolverine, Spider-man, Captain america, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, and the Fantastic 4. Unlike the States however, there isn’t a casual market here for these extra figures, what we colloquially call butaws. Parents and little children aren’t buying these toys because most frankly don’t have the money.

Brands like Marvel, Transformers, Star Wars are all growing in popularity among collectors, but for kids, the name of the game is changing. It’s great that the Transformers movies and the upcoming Iron Man sequel have re-invigorated the old names, but that doesn’t always translate to sales in related brands. Many other Marvel lines have failed to drum up any real interest in the bigger market, like the various Spider-man lines and the aforementioned TFA. Because of this, distributors are forced to err on the side of caution.

You can read more about the Philippine Toy Industry in Thunderbreak’s posts HERE and HERE, and learn more about distribution in the Philippines by signing up at Cybertron Philippines and visiting THIS THREAD. Thunderbreak covers this so well, it’s redundant to go over it a second time. It’s a great little piece so I suggest all Philippine collectors read it and educate themselves.

But now we come to the odd reaction to this news. All of a sudden, all the Marvel Universe collectors are shouting at once “I’m quitting the line!”.

If you’ve been on the collecting scene awhile then you know by now this is a standard reaction when the shit hits the fan. If you are a fan of the Masters of the Universe Classics (MOTUC) line, then you’ve probably heard that epitaph shouted in all caps many times over. It’s been used everytime there’s a problem on Matty Collector during one of the release dates of a figure. So much so that it’s an Internet meme now. Everyone rants and rages how they’re “quitting the line!”

I never understood this mentality and find it very disheartening. If you bought a toy, there was someting you liked about that toy. You were likely proud to have such a magnificent collection of plastic and tended to brag about it when you found someone new to talk to. NOTHING about those toys changed when things went south. Why would you give into a kneejerk reaction and start selling your entire collection off?

I realize there is that completist compulsion in all of us, but calmer heads on the boards have said that there are other avenues to collect if you really like a line. Online ordering, though more expensive, especially in our country, is relatively easy. There are a few stores that will do the ordering for you at a premium. eBay, is another option. And we have comrades in other countries that can also help with finding some of the upcoming figures.

I say, SHUT THE FUCK UP AND SUPPORT THE LINE!

Playkit’s not at fault here, people. They are victims of market forces as much as us collectors. They would be the FIRST in line to import these toys if there was a good chance of making money. They do this for a living. Most of us don’t. Second guessing their decisions and threatening them won’t help.

If you really want to see wave 3 of the Hammer Files reach retail here, then buy more product at the suggested retail price. Stop telling your friends to wait for the markdown. Buy a Hasbro figure as a gift once a year or so. Tell your cousins what a great toy this would be for their 5 year old. Get your godchild a Transformer instead of that Playstation game.

I stand by my assessment that Playkit and Hasbro, as well as the great guys at Cybertron Philippines who organize events have done us collectors many favors and taken quite a few risks on our behalf. We should stop making so much racket and be thankful it went on as long as it did.