guster
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Post by guster on Nov 2, 2009 21:41:52 GMT -5
Don't bother replying if you're not going to read this entire post please.
Has anybody notice that Jeremy has yet to directly address the decline in quality in WWE figures? Sure he has said he's disappointed that he was unable to end on the high note, and I truly believe he is completely 100% sincere when he says this. The WWE has been his baby since he was assigned to the department.
Now why hasn't he said anything? Well it's simple...he's been instructed not to by the higher ups in his company. Why's that? For those of you who don't know, WWE and Jakks have been in a LONG and bitter lawsuit since 2004. This lawsuit was dismissed in Jakks favor in May. Sure Jakks won, but in reality, they lost millions of dollars in lawyers and courts fees fighting said lawsuit for nearly five years.
Now sit in the position of Jeremy's boss. We're in the worst recession of any our lifetimes. Buisness is down in all departments (17% to be exact). If you were in contract with a company (a company that's president, McMahon, is publicly quoted at a share holders meeting saying, "“They are not our friends,”) that just sued your asses for FIVE years, and their contract is ending in 8 months, what would you do? You HAVE to cut costs to make money. I don't think Jeremy wanted to do what he had to do, but most likely he was instructed to cut costs in his department and with another wrestling company coming in, he did what he had to do.
People need to look at this situation from all angles and for once not think in such a selfish manner like Jeremy did this to spite all of us.
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Post by LeighD on Nov 2, 2009 22:00:01 GMT -5
Very well said. I do believe Jeremy envisioned the end of Jakks' WWE contract differently. But from the points you pointed out, business-wise, there is no point in going 110% on a product that is ending in a few months. Right now jakks is just going through the motions and fulfilling their contract. That is it. I have always stated Jakkss reasons for poor quality in terms of details, etc is all business-related controlled by people whom only see the bottom line and the next fiscal year.
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Post by King Bálor (CM)™ on Nov 2, 2009 23:13:23 GMT -5
We get like 2 or 3 of these threads a damn day. Ugh.  I'm not even sure if Jeremy even over sees the WWE line anymore. They may have moved him onto TNA and UFC and his replacement is running whats left of WWE. Jakks aint gonna put major dollars into marketing or improving a product that they have license for for the next 2 months. Guys....the line is dead. Its a shame. But time to move forward. |
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guster
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Joined on: Dec 23, 2001 10:56:51 GMT -5
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Post by guster on Nov 2, 2009 23:25:17 GMT -5
We get like 2 or 3 of these threads a damn day. Ugh. I'm not even sure if Jeremy even over sees the WWE line anymore. They may have moved him onto TNA and UFC and his replacement is running whats left of WWE. Jakks aint gonna put major dollars into marketing or improving a product that they have license for for the next 2 months. Guys....the line is dead. Its a shame. But time to move forward. Nobody has brought up the lawsuit and the results of it and even if somebody has, the idiots around here STILL can't get it through their heads and continue to bitch without looking at the facts with full understanding....and fyi, Jeremy is still in charge of the WWE brand. "In mid-2003, I left for Jakks Pacific to head up all Boy’s Entertainment brands, including my all-time favorite action brand, WWE. I am currently Senior Vice President Entertainment Brand Marketing for WWE, UFC, TNA (FALL 2010), Pokemon, Neopets, Club Penguin and a license-holder with Star Wars, Marvel and DC Superheroes. " |
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Post by Thick Justice on Nov 2, 2009 23:40:41 GMT -5
Well said its that plus the fact they are gonna get less orders due too the line ending. Less orders means less money. The only way they can make even close too the same is by less money spent on each figure.
However what they don't notice is they should be fighting for people too buy the deluxe figures. If collectors think the wwe deluxe figures are good they might decide too switch too tna instead of seeling there collection and switching too mattel. By putting no effort into the deluxe figures the chances of keeping the deluxe collectors is slim.
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Post by Smash Ventura on Nov 3, 2009 1:29:24 GMT -5
Very well put guster....bravo to you sir:)
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Post by Smash Ventura on Nov 3, 2009 1:32:10 GMT -5
We get like 2 or 3 of these threads a damn day. Ugh. I'm not even sure if Jeremy even over sees the WWE line anymore. They may have moved him onto TNA and UFC and his replacement is running whats left of WWE. Jakks aint gonna put major dollars into marketing or improving a product that they have license for for the next 2 months. Guys....the line is dead. Its a shame. But time to move forward. and you've been way to quick to declare RA is dead move on move on move on...lol you move on,im happy with what i have ;D to your credit, i think you make a good point about maybe a replacement person for jeremy who is just running out the clock now...  |
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dam
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Post by dam on Nov 3, 2009 2:28:49 GMT -5
We get like 2 or 3 of these threads a damn day. Ugh. I'm not even sure if Jeremy even over sees the WWE line anymore. They may have moved him onto TNA and UFC and his replacement is running whats left of WWE. Jakks aint gonna put major dollars into marketing or improving a product that they have license for for the next 2 months. Guys....the line is dead. Its a shame. But time to move forward. you need to sticky this thread and retitle it F*** YOU JAKKS!! so we can have so many duplicates |
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Post by ¡Twist Of Cinnamon! on Nov 3, 2009 3:31:23 GMT -5
What is it with all the "real reasons"?
No one knows the real reason, its all speculation.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2009 4:08:30 GMT -5
Interesting theory.
I think you are part right, but the real issue is that rising oil prices have pushed up plastic costs, and WWE figure popularity is not what it once was.
Higher costs and lower sales demand means cost cutting. We know Jakks spends little money on tooling so the next most expensive part of a figure is paint applications.
Further, to maximise their profits they flood the pre-christmas market with main eventers and popular wrestlers. Since WWE don't seem to be able to elevate new stars the talent pool from which to draw on to make figures is very limited.
Until WWE become more popular again, and other things that excite children (like Transformers and The Clone Wars) become less popular I don't see any change. Collectors do not support a toy license. In todays action figure market a figure, and todays economy, figures all the tight design and tattoos just don't make economic sense at an affordable price point.
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Post by The Dude on Nov 3, 2009 4:49:05 GMT -5
Regardless of what they feel towards WWE and losing the contract, just because there is only a few months left doesn't mean that they need to screw over their loyal customers. All signs point to not giving a f*ck about their product. If Kobe Bryant's contract is up with the Lakers after the playoffs and he has already signed a new deal with another team he's not going to f*ck off and not try and win another championship just because he's no longer going to be a Laker.
If I owned a company I would want my customers to be 100% satisfied with my product no matter what. When you let your product go sh*t what does that say about you and your company?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2009 7:08:51 GMT -5
That is still no excuse to provide a shoddy product, they owe the buyer to give them the best quality merchandise possible.
And still no excuse to ignore the fans who said they wanted RA for TNA.
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Post by Chip on Nov 3, 2009 11:06:25 GMT -5
Correct me someone, if I am wrong...
To be honest Jakks shouldnt have to "cut costs" because they are still selling products like crazy. TRUs around me have stocked at least 4 cases of CS 26...Jakks doesn't make money off of TRU retail sales, they make money off of TRU buying their cases, then TRU sets its own prices.
Example: Jakks cost per figure $7.00 + Case of 12 ordered by TRU = $84.00 per case billed to TRU. Jakks gets its cost (which would include their profit) and TRU sets their Retail Price based on MSRPs. When you go to a TRU and purchase a figure you are giving TRU money, not Jakks.
Essentially Jakks is just squeezing out as much extra money as they can because their WWE contract is up.
I don't know how many of each figure are produced but say the .0001 ounces of paint per figure thats used to add those little details costs Jakks .003 cents...well multiply that by 30,000 and they are getting that much extra per figure per sale. Its sneaky & slimy to be honest.
The simple solution to this is to refuse to buy those cheaply detailed figures (all of AD38) this way TRU sales suffer and they will blame Jakks for their lack of attention in their figures leading to people not wanting to buy them.
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Post by marino13 on Nov 3, 2009 11:15:22 GMT -5
You said "REAL reason" like you had some proof. Thought the case was solved...guess not.  |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2009 11:45:07 GMT -5
Lets clear up how retail pricing works. I will use UK prices as examples but the same methodology works in all countries, but remember over here we have FX issues and other distruction to think of.
TRU decides its figure price point based on the margin it needs to make and the quality of the figure offering compared to other brands. In the UK a licensed toy (WWE/Star Wars etc) tends to retail for GBP 7.99. Most consumers are price sensitive, increasing WWE prices will reduce volume sold as there are other licenses that have high demand competing for the same consumer pound.
TRU will dictate to the supplier what its case price should be and the supplier has to produce the figure for less than that to derive its margin. If case price is fixed by the retailer, and costs are increasing (raw materials/carriage etc all pushed up by oil prices), margin is maintained by cutting costs or making efficiencies. Any work on the figure increases cost, even paint apps which involves setting up the paint machines etc.
What might seem like a small cost is really a big one unless you have a production run in the hundreds of thousands of units. This is the reason we get re-releases, Jakks can increase the production run and lower unit cost.
But, I digress. Anyway, to say that Jakks can simply make the figures as detailed as possible for whatever price and then TRU will stock them and sell them for what ever price point they need to is naive.
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# 10 Marian Gaborik
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Post by # 10 Marian Gaborik on Nov 3, 2009 13:28:53 GMT -5
that's definitely a solid point , well thought out
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guster
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Joined on: Dec 23, 2001 10:56:51 GMT -5
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Post by guster on Nov 3, 2009 15:01:02 GMT -5
Let me stress this once again:
People need to quit being selfish and look at these facts. This isn't about JAKKS vs. the collectors and fans.
This is about JAKKS vs. WWE. WWE publicly accused Jakks of doing illegal things in the Federal Court of LAW (which were proven not to be true) and have publicly slandered Jakks as not being "their friends" despite the millions and millions of dollars Jakks has made WWE over the past 13 years. Jakks has dozens of other lines and licenses to worry about and have the potential to make them money over the next several years. The WWE is not one of those lines and they aren't going go out of their way to do WWE favors when WWE went for the kill in court.
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dgnr8
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Post by dgnr8 on Nov 3, 2009 15:25:51 GMT -5
You are absolutely right... but it still pisses me off.
And, that being the case, why doesn't Jakks just release non-detailed prototypes so we know what to expect ahead of time? They must know that showing us great protos sets us up to be disappointed. So in a way, they're STILL taking out at least some of their frustrations on us through poor business practices.
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guster
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Joined on: Dec 23, 2001 10:56:51 GMT -5
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Post by guster on Nov 3, 2009 15:54:49 GMT -5
You are absolutely right... but it still pisses me off. And, that being the case, why doesn't Jakks just release non-detailed prototypes so we know what to expect ahead of time? They must know that showing us great protos sets us up to be disappointed. So in a way, they're STILL taking out at least some of their frustrations on us through poor business practices. This is just a guess, but the people who develop the lines and prototypes are in California and once they finish the prototype of a series, they move on to next series. After that, it the project gets pushed onto to the design department for packaging, and then onto to the actual production in China. Somewhere in between when the line-ups are announced/prototypes are developed and when the actual figures are produced, the decisions on budgets for every particular line are drawn up and that's when the decisions on which deco can be fit into the budget and which can't. |
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dgnr8
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Post by dgnr8 on Nov 3, 2009 16:17:52 GMT -5
You are absolutely right... but it still pisses me off. And, that being the case, why doesn't Jakks just release non-detailed prototypes so we know what to expect ahead of time? They must know that showing us great protos sets us up to be disappointed. So in a way, they're STILL taking out at least some of their frustrations on us through poor business practices. This is just a guess, but the people who develop the lines and prototypes are in California and once they finish the prototype of a series, they move on to next series. After that, it the project gets pushed onto to the design department for packaging, and then onto to the actual production in China. Somewhere in between when the line-ups are announced/prototypes are developed and when the actual figures are produced, the decisions on budgets for every particular line are drawn up and that's when the decisions on which deco can be fit into the budget and which can't. Touche' sir... touche'. |
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