So as many of you can tell by looking at the toy shelves the Indian Jones figures have not sold as well as Hasbro anticipated. Initially Hasbro said that they had BIG plans for the future of this line. Well I think those plans have bit the dust. From what I have read around the web on the Hasbro Indy Q&A’s there were plans for:
Belloq in suit
Walter Donovan
Indy in Tuxedo
Marcus Brody
Deluxe pack with Henry and Indy on a german motorcycle
…and even the remote possibly of some comic packs.
Well as the sales have not been what was expected I’d be surprised if we even see the next Raiders wave they announced at comic con. Instead when "Crystal Skull" makes it to DVD we’ll get a few exclusive Battle Packs that won’t sell either cause they give us figures we already have.
It’s really too bad cause this line has been great so far and I still think there is a fan base that would support it. At least to get a few of the characters listed above. So the whole point of this blog post is to tell Hasbro to go DTC (Direct to Consumer) on this line. They already have Indy license and the distribution window via HasbroToyShop.com. Sure the price of the figures might increase to $11.99, but I think folks would still pay that to get the figures missing in their collection.
It’s just a thought Hasbro…chew on it.
In the meantime I’m gonna make a custom Marcus Brody like this.
Until next time.
I’m not sure if it’s a matter of overproduction or underinterest or a little of both, but it is a shame. I’ve stuck to the Adventure Heroes and enjoyed them–I’m hoping Hasbro still pushes through the ones we’ve seen from Temple of Doom, and that we even get some from The Last Crusade.
Conversely, it looks like the LEGO Indiana Jones line is doing well enough that they’re continuing it into 2009 with sets from all four films–I’ve been keeping up with those, and enjoying them immensely.
-Q
Hasbro’s comment on all of this? Oh wait, they haven’t commented.
Say “hello” to another “on hiatus” Hasbro product. I guess Indy will soon be shaking hands with all of the cancelled Star Wars Episode 1 figures that have never seen the light of day.
I made a suggestion on another board that if the Indy line is ending that maybe they could take the “McQuarrie Concept” approach and put one Indy figure per Star Wars wave — I mean, if they can put one Battlestar Galatic ship in most of the Titanium waves why couldn’t they do that with Indy figures?
Because those of us who collect star wars dont want Indy in the line– same as Trakker in the G.I. Joe line– can forgive it once– but dont waste figures space for a property that is not part of the line.. Hasbro put too much faith in thinking all the people who buy star wars would buy indy– not the case..
I said this when the line was released– too many old white guys that dont sell, no real costume changes and no real interesting look characters on the whole. “Most” (yes I am lumping here) “action” figure buyers dont want figures of someone who could be their teacher at a college. I think the success of this toy line just goes to show all the toy companies may be right that a civilian wave just wont sell.. ICMG in the star wars line will reiterate this even further.
Not having collected any Indy lines I was kinda out of the loop. Thanks for the blog, FM. Can’t wait to see that custom!
I collected the original Indy line by Kenner in the early 80′s and got every carded figure except for Marion. Problem is, they were already on closeout at TRUs back then, ending up as my X-Mas gifts for 1983.
The same thing that affected sales then is happening again, it seems. A shame. I would go the DTC route as well. I managed to get all of the Last Crusade wave through HTS through sheer patience and they were WELL worth the wait!
I really hope the Temple of Doom and second Raiders wave see the light of day somehow. And if they do, DTC would be the way to go for guys like Brody and Donovan to be released.
I saw the Temple of Doom Adventure Heroes last night at Target–hopefully that means that the “regular” figures are on their way soon too.
I didn’t dislike KOTCS as much as some did but it still underwhelmed. Combine that with a first batch of dreadful overproduced figures and you have a surefire recipe for who cares. LC and TOD figures look much better but I think the damage is done.
Well, that’s a damned shame.
It’d be nice if I could find any of the LAST CRUSADE figures anywhere but on Ebay.
That is the issue right there. Our Wal-Mart put out one case of Last Crusade figures that sold almost instantly, then put out more Crystal Skull figures sitting in back in the old big cube they had up when the movie first came out. These would sell if they cleared out the figures from the dud movie.
I’m sorry but lets all just say it: the movie stunk. And stunk big-time. So of course all the merchandise tanked with it. None of us could sit through “Indian Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Crystal Monkey Skull Ark Blah Blah” or what ever it was. Awful. Such a sell-out and a totally unnecessary movie. But at least it gave birth to a new version of “Jumped the Shark:” … “Nuked the Fridge!”
The movie didn’t stink. It wasn’t “Raiders good” but it wasn’t “Temple of Doom bad” either. It was squarely in the middle, which is not high praise, but it was also a perfectly entertaining two hours at the movies, to the tune of $780,861,441 – and at 8 bucks a head, I don’t think all those people thought it stunk.
Ok gang,
I am the Indy collector who has been featured in a few articles and will be featured in the next issue of the OFFICIAL magazine. I have been lucky to be in contact with some Hasbro guys ( even though they get an earful from me ) I was VERY vocal before this line was released that Hasbro HAD to stay away from the problems of the Kenner and LJN lines…They didn’t
They “SHOULD” have put one mix of movie characters to each case and cased the figures out at 8 figures each. However, Hasbro paid wayyyy too much for Indy and they had to try to get figures sold to make the money back.
The Line has made a KILLING for Hasbro. However, it is DEAD!!! It’s sad because it is TOTALLY the fault of the people who made the assortments and in some cases character selections.
As far as Character selections, Hasbro could have done research to see that the Belloq in white or Idol temple gear would have been MUCH more fitting than the boring Ark suit. Hell, we can get a 1983 version of that figure for as cheap as the new one on ebay.
Hasbro should have NEVER made an Indy figure that did NOT come with his hat…Shame on Hasbro for not knowing that the Hat is as important as Indy is.
One of the most ignorant moves made though was the assortments..The same figures that were NOT selling should have NEVER been introduced into the Last Crusade cases..Not only that, the LC figures were packed in TWO SEPERATE cases which lead to DOUBLE the peg warmers packed to only 3-4 new figures.
The Temple of Doom figures will show up for sure and the Temple playset wil lsell well too. However, UNLESS Hasbro rushes out the 2009 Raider’s set in Dec. I bet the farm that we don’t see it.
If Hasbro had the brains for it, they would rush the second ROTLA wave out to pump up 2008 sales. They can ship those under the current contracts with the stores.
This was the line of my life..was it GREAT? YES!!! was it destroyed by the hasbro team? YES!! shame on hasbro for thinking that it would perform like Star Wars or Gi Joe…Also, It seems like the team members could NOT wait to kill Indy and get back to SW.