It’s Amazing That Hasbro Star Wars Has Avoided “Artificial Scarcity”

Out of toy aisle boredom, I found myself looking over the Spin Masters DC 4" figures yesterday. They are reminiscent of the Kenner Super Powers line, so there was tinge of nostalgia for me. I immediately flipped the card over to see what other figures were offered, and I saw this abomination:



I was immediately turned off by the line when I saw they were leaning on the artificial scarcity gimmick with "super rare" figures. It reminded me of the Playmates 1701 Star Trek figures, which were almost scandalous. There were three figures in the series. The first two were the "Tapestry" Picard and the "Yesterday's Enterprise" Lt. Yar, of which were only 1701 figures were made. Finding one of the figures in stores was like winning the lottery with people offering $1000 bounties for the Picard. This meant every Comic Book Guy trope was hunting for the figures, regardless of whether or not they were Star Trek fans. It made it virtually impossible for the average collector to acquire them. Fans were outraged, and Playmates increased production of the third figure, "Projections" Lt. Barclay, to 3,000 figures. It did little to help, and some say the stunt irreparably damaged the Playmates Star Trek line.

Of course, there is one instance where artificial scarcity seems to be no only accepted, but celebrated:



The Hot Wheels Treasure Hunt program has been going strong for over 25 years, but other toy manufacturers should be warned. Hot Wheels collectors are socially maladjusted mutants. Their collecting mores are more closely aligned with the sports card hobby where artificial scarcity is now the norm. Their collecting patterns cannot be applied to the rest of us normal grown men and women stalking the store aisles looking to collect children's toys.

Hasbro has flirted with the concept with the various "Ultimate Galactic Hunt" figures, but it wasn't as insidious as the offerings mentioned above. The figures themselves weren't purposely made scarce. Only the cards and accessories were differentiated from the standard releases. Collectors could easily pass on those offerings, and still have a complete figure collection. Even the notorious mini-figures (Salacious Crumb and Mouse Droid) were merely carded repacks of previously released accessories. Only maniacal carded collectors needed to concern themselves with them.

It's remarkable that Hasbro has never gone all in on this gimmick, especially when the line has bottomed out at times. It's fortunate that they didn't because I believe it would have resulted in the exact opposite of its intended effect. It would have been the final nail in the line's coffin. What the current resurgence of The Vintage Collection shows is that all Hasbro has to do is make the right figures, and no gimmicks are needed.

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