Great discussion guys. Kind of sad that we have to debate Tamashii/Bandai's business philosophy while we wait for new figures! But considering how far between the releases are, I guess we aren't left with much!
I'm going to share a little of what happened with Hasbro's resurrection of the G.I. Joe line around mid-2000's because that mirrors a lot of what I see with Tamashii and DBZ. Essentially it boils down to a company's MAIN customer base not buying a product enough to warrant retail sales but collector interest was "enough" to keep it alive and it eventually expanded BACK into retail before Hasbro squandered it again (thanks to crappy movies which killed retail interest...but I'll get to that).
If you're an 80's kid...you know G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. I'm talking about the G.I. Joe vs. COBRA, NOT the old school "Action Man" G.I. Joe 12" line. Like DBZ, Hasbro's G.I. Joe toyline had mainstream support from a successful cartoon, comics, and other outlets. By the early 90's, the cartoon had wrapped up and the G.I. Joe line was essentially ended. Hasbro OCCASIONALLY released small groups of repaints, but nothing big or new.
In mid-2000, Hasbro decided to divert company policies to concentrate MORE on in-house properties (like G.I. Joe, Transformers, & My Little Pony for example) rather than licenses (like Star Wars at the time...and later on Marvel). These in-house properties are actually OWNED by Hasbro and thus, they make a larger profit than having to give money back to Lucas at the time. Transformers was an exception, because even though Transformers "died down" in the USA, it was alive and well in Japan thanks to Takara and Hasbro later reflected that by bringing Transformers back with "Beast Wars" and into whatever-Transformers-animated-series is going on today.
Anyways, back to G.I. Joe. Hasbro developed several "themes" of G.I. Joe while they tried to resurrect the line. Every theme had an attached story to it and they even released some animated movies to help churn interest amongst their MAIN CUSTOMER MARKET: young males. However, G.I. Joe had LOTS of fans and these old school fans like myself were excited to see new product and also supported the line. Hasbro's G.I. Joe was also bolstered by the resurrection of the "G.I. Joe" comic by Devil's Due, which was clearly aimed at the adult fans. This "resurgence" led to about three themes ("G.I. Joe vs. Cobra", "Spytroops" and "Valor vs. Venom") with each theme having about 3-5 Waves (each "Wave" is about 5 sets of figures) of released figures.
However, things didn't start looking good with the last Wave of "Valor vs. Venom" and we later learned that Hasbro was planning to "end" the G.I. Joe line once again. They did acknowledge that there was a HUGE amount of fans and it was ENOUGH that they would sponsor a new ONLINE ONLY set of Waves of G.I. Joe figures released to consumers via the *new* (at-the-time) Hasbrotoyshop.com
This is where we sort of mirror up with Tamashii & DBZ. A highly successful license with a HUGE fanbase, but it's MAIN CORE CONSUMERS were just *not* buying. But there was ENOUGH of an interest that sales could be transferred to another OUTLET (online) for the manufacturer to save on the typical retailer/shipping costs.
Long story short, the new G.I. Joe line called "DTC" (Direct to Consumer) only survived for about 3 Waves of figures...WHY? Because Hasbro then blew the door wide open with the new "25th Anniversary" series of G.I. Joe figures. High quality Joe figures based on the classics and updates with modern materials and new molds. They sold VERY well for a while (Hasbro even brought back some G.I. Joe cartoons like "Resolute" and "Sigma Six") but were eventually folded aside for the G.I. Joe movie figures...and then...well...the poor movies...eventually killed the line once again. But that's a story for another day.
Anyways...Tamashii's Dragon Ball Z "online-only" line reminds me of the Hasbro DTC line. However, seeing "Battle of Gods" that just came out and that "Dragon Ball Kai" is restarting in Japan are extremely POSITIVE signs because that means DBZ can appeal once again to Tamashii's "core" consumers in Japan. This very well may lead to Bandai trying to release their DBZ line BACK in stores if they can gauge enough interest. Which, in the end, would be great for all of us because there will be a more concentrated focus on developing MORE Tamashii DBZ figures.
damn it. The seller took long enough to send it but glad I got him just before his prices really took off, even if Barnes and Nobles literally got him right after I bought him online. Though I'm gonna buy 18 this week too, and a D-Arts my local Barnes and Nobles carries. Anyone know of any good coupons to use in-store?
