Forget a Hasbro boycott. Boycott the Simpsons Toys.

[darth maul rat]

Hey
I have began a boycott of Simpsons toys, and I will explain why. I attempted to E-Mail Toybiz and register this complaint, but my e-mail was returned undeliverable.
Last Hallowe'en, like so many Simpsons fans, I was excited by the release of Kang and Kodos, my two favorite Simpsons characters of all time. My brother, who never even considered buying a figure, even wanted them. So, knowing how things went the previous year with the Hallowe'en set, I tried to keep a good eye out for them. No luck. Then our local comic convention came around. As I walked in, I saw a buddy of mine sell the last one he had. Mark then told me he had gottent he last two that the TRU on my side of town had and the last two that Greenwood had. He also told me they only got 4. I couldn't believe it. Given the number of Simpsons toys that are sold around here, and they only got 4. I don't know how they decided how many to send to each store, but either the TRU was allowed by Toybiz to only order a small amount, or Toybiz only gave them a small amount. Either way, it is intolerable. They allowed one company to be the sole seller of the toy, and then gave or allowed to have such incredibly small numbers onhand that there is no way they could take care of the customers that had made it possible for these sets to happen.

Then the X-Mas set came and went. Same story. Both times, I attempted to get them online at TRU, to no avail. After all this, I just couldn't get my enthusiasm back about the line. Wave 7 has come and gone without me. If I see a Troy McClure, I may buy it. But that will probably be it. The main figures are done now anyway.

Don't get me wrong. I am all for exclusives. But if K-Mart can sell 4 Homer figures and Target sells 4 Homer figures, and Wal-Mart and Meijer and TRU all do the same as well, how is it fair that one outlet gets exclusive rights the the next Homer figure, and only gets four of it?

[Wolfwood319]

One problem you may be having is that Toybiz doesn't make the Simpsons toys, Playmates does.

Distribution has always been a problem with any toyline, I found the Halloween series 2 at my TRU, they had about 20. They only got one shipment in though.

[darth maul rat]

Oops. That's what I meant to say. Playmates. I don't know why I said Toybiz. If what you say is true, and I am by no means saying it is not, then it must have been that my the TRU's here locally did not order enough. But still, if you are going to allow your product to be exclusive, I think there should be some kind of basic amount these places are required to order. And, the TRU website said that it was due to the manufacturer that they could not fill orders. These guys seem to want to create high priced aftermarket items just to get some kind of buzz going. Playmates may not be entirely to blame, but for a company that has done so well anticipating the desires of the fans with this series, they dropped the ball in Indy with this one.

I know this sounds whiny, but I have not seen an exclusive item handled this badly in a while. If what the guy who grabbed up the ones here said is true, at best there were 16 of these things available through 4 stores in over a thirty mile radius. I don't know, but the whole thing has left me disappointed. To offer a Homer Figure through Toyfare is one thing. There you know it going to be limited. But I have never seen a TRU exclusive that was not available here locally, until this. So is it my TRU to blame, when they are capable of getting tons of exclusive, including, but not limited to, the SW stuff, or did Playmates drop the ball? Either way, this became a good place for me to get off the train.

[Fulit]

Hey, contacting Playmates Toys isn't much help either. First of all, their URL can be confusing, I don't want to tell you what you'll get if you type in just "playmates.com" instead of "playmatesTOYS.com" ;)

Anyway, I attempted several times to contact Playmates Toys concerning my Chief Wiggum figure, whose voice chip inexplicably doesn't work, and they don't even care enough to return an email. So yeah, generally I agree w/ you, they suck.

[darth maul rat]

Yeah, I e-mailed PLAYMATES (got it right that time) through their website, pretty much to tell them what I thought about the whole deal, through the CONTACT US link, and the dang thang got returned as undeliverable.

But talking this thing out has helped my perspective. Forums can be a useful place for that. The funny thing about it all was that the chain of comic stores that I deal with understood how a fanbase works well enough that they ordered more than enough Radioactive Man and Fallout Boys, so I guess if the seller does their Part, Playmates will too.

I just think it should be like the old Nascar tire rule. Back when they had two or three companies vying to be their tire company, the rule was bring enough for everybody, even if only one car uses your tires. My Toys R Us ordered enough for their store, and apparrantly no one had them make sure they realized they were going to be the only game in town.

But I will change my stance, and say Don't Boycott Playmates. But don't feel you have to go out of your way to support them either.

[SithDroid]

I agree. Why doesn't Playmates up production? These things are obviously going to sell. And I also hate exclusives because I can never find them as well.

[JediTricks]

Bottom line: Playmates hates collectors. Trek was the same way, drove me nuts. You watch, in a year when Simpsons figures aren't in demand anymore, you'll be seeing Grampa and Lisa and Sideshow Bob and a few other HTF figures in an overpriced multipack you'll be able to find ANYWHERE.