Yan_MCX wrote: ↑Fri Jul 24, 2020 10:53 pm
Hicks_Royel wrote: ↑Fri Jul 24, 2020 2:38 pm
You, the company, had a good plan with the Battle Bones set. Then, for reasons beyond my knowledge, you made it mandatory that people attend the show just to secure a preorder that they had already placed.
You have this entire thing backwards.
The Battle Bones set - just like the Master Chief Collection set - was conceived as an SDCC exclusive. It's not a thing that existed and that we decided after the fact to "make it mandatory that people attend the show" to get it. We started with the intention of making an SDCC exclusive and then we did exactly that. It was the plan all along!
The preorder is there to make it easier for people who already were planning to attend the show to secure a copy of the set instead of having to wait in line for hours.
The only reason things were different this year is because there's a global pandemic and all events are cancelled.
And that's why I said you almost had a good idea.
Let me ask you this, how many orders did you wind up canceling because folks failed to register at the show? How many more could you have filled had you not made the attendance a mandatory step? How many people do you think would have ordered that set if they could have gotten the set without attending?
Here's what I am saying, the system, the need to make any convention exclusive is flawed. And how you all choose to execute it is worse.
First, SDCC tickets sell out almost immediately after they are offered. Many, many months later, you all announce what exclusive you'll be offering if you all offer one at all. That's a gamble in itself.
I can't speak for everyone here but I think few are making arrangements to go to ComicCon when they buy the tickets based on chance that you all might offer something they want to buy when they get there. I mean scalpers do but those people are the problem and I hope your intent is not to support them. Some actual collectors may but will then feel burned when you offer a Pokemon or Monster High set they have no interest in.
Others may want to go but by the time you all announce that you're making a set they are interested in, tickets are long since sold out. And people who live and work in places where San Diego is not in their relatively local travel range have additional issues.
So SDCC [any convention really] is kinda not a great place to offer an exclusive where you have to attend to get it. As I said, it alienates collectors whose realities don't let them go across the country or to another country on a whim regardless of the Manbearpig flu.
And the whole "but it's exclusive to make it special" is a lame counterpoint. Several other Mattel sets were available outside of SDCC for order, some before the show even starts. That's been the case for years.
Honestly, wanting it is what makes it special to a collector. Or at least that's how it should be. Not the idea that buying three copies and selling two for five times the mark-up over retail or having something someone else couldn't obtain for reasons entirely beyond their control.
I'm not a generous person by nature but I still feel that people should be able to buy what they want and that all true collectors should be able to enjoy the hobby equally by their own choice. And that gets back to the Battle Bones set.
A made to order set, one set to debut at SDCC [if it absolutely must] and only available for order for clear and set period of time is perfect. That way, people can order freely during that period, know exactly what they are purchasing up front and not have to take off from work on a Thursday to try and navigate a poorly organized demo site only wind up empty handed two minutes after the listing goes live. And then be taunted by a message of "MISSED IT!"
You won't have collectors mad at you, you'll probably sell plenty of sets to justify the process and SDCC isn't going to care one way or the other because it's really an outdated method of advertising wrapped up in overpriced hype. The world has the Internet, you, Mega, don't even have to attend SDCC to make your fans aware of new product.
And fans aren't going to care if it's labeled exclusive to "SDCC", "Bloktoberfest" or "Mattel's new site that is way cooler than HasbroPulse". For a fan, it shouldn't need any label other than Mega Construx. And, well, the branding of the subline they are interested in. Just think of all those unflocked and equally unwanted Mossmen that wouldn't have sat of shelves at WalMarts if everyone had been able order the real good one with the Battle Bones set. You guys wouldn't have even have had make that second version and we could have gotten Clawful or Triklops by now.
But, anyway, convention "exclusives" are bad. Attendance mandatory exclusives are worse. And you can do better. You have tools that will allow you to do right by your fanbase if you get past this false prestige of "SDCC". And you will make your fans happier in the process.
You can start by implementing a trial run with this year's set. Talk to your production people, find out when they can make more. You already know what the bare minimum is to make the set $20 a piece is. And I'd guess it's not a lot considering the resulting two minute window of dissatisfaction and frustration.
Set up a preorder window for all of us to be made aware of, advertise it across the toy collecting websites. Tell people, "here's your one and only last chance" and let us preorder knowing that some time in the future we will receive the set. Maybe even get PixelDan and Brickman to be your voice of the YouTube. Or make those reviewers that got one of the 20 sets and failed to review the set in time earn their keep.
Back to ordering, make us pay up front or when the window for ordering closes. And this time, you won't have to set a maximum order. You can let one guy order 20 units so he can scalp them on eBay and another 20 people buy just one each and all of them will get their orders filled. I am in for two so I can keep one in box and the other I can add to the pile of other Master Chiefs I own.
