I dislike Exclusives when there is absolutely no way for me to even have a chance at getting something. Being exclusive SHOULD mean it is restricted to a certain venue, ie it is only available at a certain place. Yes there might be some legwork to get the item, but it shouldn't mean it is impossible to obtain.

I see the word 'Exclusive" and read it as 'Elusive".

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Bringing up that his is a childrens toy line in a discussion about exclusives doesn't hold water. Since having exclusives and chase figures are the least child friendly thing about the modern toy market.

First the thought that a suited figure won't sell to kids.... if that is the case why did Hasbro repaint headman and reuse his body for comic pack figures. In a suit? Either that figure was meant for adults or Hasbro really thinks kids want a drug dealing action figure.

So if the mission statement is to sell toys to kids, then why pander to adults at all? If you are pandering to adults, thus legitimizing that this toyline is aimed at adults, then why not package a Paris pursuit set up that can be purchased at retail. Include Street clothes Scarlett, Heavy Duty, and Breaker, along with the VIpers in Suits. Nice tidy 5 pack.

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agree with DanielB,
Hasbro constantly goes back & forth with the "Kids love em" and "we read the board and listen to fans"

its a catch 22, though....

I for one hate having to depend on Joebros or ebay gougers around the country to find the exclusives...

...On the other hand, If exclusives didn't exist, I wouldn't be getting Big Lob.

As far as the Club is concerned, it makes sense, Join the club get access to exclusive figures (that's what most exclusive clubs are for) and as a result, they can get away with making rare characters or even brand new ones. (whether or not you like them is your personal opinion, but the fact is the Club HAS made several figures Hasbro has said flat out no, we're not gonna make, such as Big Lob, Sparks, and Female Doc)

But for the main Distribution company to make exclusives for specific stores is annoying. Even as far back as The TRU 6 packs. It would be easier if these particular stores also sold them online at their websites, but in most cases they don't.
Some people have the luxury of many different department stores around them. But although I have access to 4 different Targets, the nearest TRU is 14 miles away, and Wal-mart is 26.

...for a person with no car, they might as well be in another state,....

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I'm torn on exclusives. I see Jay's point that they are a way we get great stuff, but on the other hand, I think that they ultimately limit what we get as well.

I'd buy fifty Iron grenadiers tomorrow morning on single cards, but I will not buy one more SRO pack or Comic pack because I probably already have ten 25th Destros. I love the concept of the Cobra Island Packs, but found the cost prohibitive. When I finally got them at the last con at a greatly discounted price, it still left me with a pile of stuff I didn't want, that noone else wants either, and that I had paid for. I'd love a dozen of the blue vipers from the target four pack, but I'm not driving 60 miles to get them, don't want or have any use for the dukes or heavy dutys. I wanted one figure out of the Kmart pack. I loved the Battle stations and the wal mart two packs, but there are a lot of people that never got to see them. I let the TRU Snow Serpents go, because although I think it is an even better version of the already great figure, I already have more than enough of the original. So instead of the dozen I'd like to have, I have one.

I'm torn too. I liked the stuff we get with exclusives Target Eel, TRU Snow Serpent etc. but I find them easy bait for scalpers.
The first wave of Target exclusives really put a bad taste in mouth.

I voted NO, mostly because of the frustration factor (and it's not just G.I. Joe, either). Not every store carries their designated exclusives, supplies can often be minimal, etc.

However, I have to admit I see the flip side of the coin. Oftentimes an exclusive will be something exceptionally cool, that if it weren't a store exclusive, likely otherwise would not have been made.

Assuming you can find it...

As collectors, we're a small, but loyal and lucrative group. However, the stuff they can target to sell directly at us doesn't compare with what they can sell to retailers. Sure its a kids line. But it is the retailers who purchase the toys they think they can sell to those kids. If the retailers don't stand behind the product, then Hasbro won't release them except as exclusives. If Wal-Mart, Target, and TRU product buyers don't want a suited Destro, we don't get a suited Destro at mass retail.

I also think it is funny when I hear people claim we'll get an exclusive at some point down the road at retail. They said that about Doc. Unmasked Storm Shadow? Pimp Daddy Destro? Toyfare Scarlett. None of those showed up at retail. The GI Joe line has been really good about keeping almost all of their exclusives, well, exclusive.

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Exclusives, and variants, are just a massive headache.

They take either time or money, if not both, to track down and obtain.

Are exclusives sometimes well done? Yes. Look at much of what Master Collector has put out- and that's using often using decades old molds.

Is this a toy line for kids or collectors? It seems Hasbro uses whichever answer makes them the most money. They're in business to make money, so that makes sense. Ultimately, it should be available to kids. My biggest gripe is that it seems so unfair. When I was 9 or 10 I wouldn't have been able to buy the Master Collector stuff and I'm sure it's probably that way for kids today.

There's the argument that exclusives allow figures to be made that wouldn't sell well. Mattel, of all companies, has demonstrated with their Justice League line that it's quite easy to sell three packs and slide in that d-list character along with 1 or 2 a-listers. Hasbro could easily do the same.

Yes, but this IS Hasbro, the grand poobah of repaints. While we never got those figures at retail, we got their parts coming out our asses. I couldn't give two figs if that Destro gets released at retail. But damn if I don't want 30 of those parts.

Yes, I would marry them if I could.

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Pretty much re-reading this thread I voted no mostly toward the convention exclusives. I really don't see convention exclusives as anything good for any product line. Handing out flyers and things like that are usually enough. Or if they want, do a single item from the existing line in a baggie and hand them out. Instead, having the convention exclusives have just turned conventions into scalper zoos. Lines and lines of people at all the booth with only about 20% of them caring about the product line.

The G.I.Joe convention though is a whole thing of it's own. That should have the exclusives of course. They do make it very open to people not going to the convention to be able to get the items and for those collecting for the "value" they still go way up in price.

Then we have the store exclusives. If the store make it plentiful enough in their orders to allow people to get them, I'm all for it. A lot of times it opens the door for things that may not have been made in the regular line. If they're going to sell something they need to sell it and not just have 1 box and 1 shipment and call it at that. They also need to know the market and not flood the shelves with them.

But that's the thing, store mishandle exclusives all the time. Take Target for instance. They should never have had the same UPC number for both of the groups of 4 items they put out. That caused a massive amount of the first group to keep showing up over and over. It's still hard for a lot of people to find the new group of 4. This is a prime example and another one would be the Wal-Mart base sets. Most people only saw them show up in store 1 time and no restocks. Finally here after Christmas a few of us have seen a couple clearanced even though before Christmas there eithere were none at all or the initial stock already sold out. That was just Wal-Mart mishandling things yet again.

So yeah, this exclusive idea is a hard thing to really answer. I guess I would still stick to my no answer. It's impossible to get stores to make their department managers know what they are doing. So long as there is a profit showing, nobody in corporate cares. They don't see the idea that an even larger profit could come from their employees knowing the items sold a little better. Which makes exclusives not really work. Or hit or miss to work.

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I think you hit the nail on the head with exclusives (and everything else for that matter...)

Target as a whole company, flooded their stores with their own exclusives, but hasn't stocked a single carded figure past the first few waves. as a result, sales suffered as most non collectrs are only familliar with Snake eye, storm shadow or characters theyve seen on the movie. and have no idea what a snake armor is.
K-mart kinda treated their exclusives laxidazially.
( I can't comment on War-Mart, as there isnt one I can reach without a car.)

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Heh. Laxidazially

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yeah, found it in the dictionary next to Truthiness

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