DISASTER:  Latest Fan Channel Wave Found At Brick And Mortar In The US

According to a post in the Vintage Collection Facebook Group, the dreaded Anakin Peasant Fan Channel wave has showed up at brick and mortar in the US. We've previously written how disastrous this wave would be if it showed up at Walmart and Target. It's as bad as the 2018 launch wave. Fortunately/unfortunately, stores don't order at nearly the same volume as they did in 2018, so this won't become a retail apocalypse, but it won't be good either. Particularly since Fan Channel waves seem to be the only waves that stores replenish for some frustrating reason.

In our Pulse Con Q&A, Patrick even said that he even explicitly told the US team that this wave was not intended for brick and mortar. Despite that, it still happened. It's becoming clear that having essentially two different lines under the same SKU is too confusing where the rubber meets the road in distrubution. Sometimes complex situations are impossible to micro-manage, and you have to put guardrails in place to eliminate the human element.

And perhaps that is the silver lining to this situation. In that same Q&A linked above, Patrick mentions the possibility of creating a new "five digit" for the Fan Channel/Specialty waves. We believe that's the same as a SKU to us lay folk. Hasbro, if you have a technical solution to the problem of Fan Channel waves showing up at brick and mortar, now is the time.

One footnote: It had previously been reported that this wave was found at brick and mortar in Australia, but that was easy to dismiss. Not unlike Atlantis, Australia is a mythical land populated by fantasy creatures such as unicorns, Minotaurs, and kangaroos. Plus the intent of the brick and mortar moratorium was only for the US, to the best of our knowledge.

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