Vintage Collection Fans’ Choice Needs To Come Back…But With A Twist

Fans' Choice votes in the Star Wars 3.75" action figure line have had a rocky history. On the one hand, it produced the landmark figure Ephant Mon. On the other hand, it's produced some significant peg warmers like Ellorrs Madak. There are several reasons why this populist gesture from Hasbro doesn't always result in best selling figures. One is that fans sometimes get "cute" and vote for figures that they know won't sell well, and thus Hasbro wouldn't have a market reason to make the figure on their own. Another is that there is definitely a trolling element in the voting. Back on THE forum from the early part of this century, there were "vote for the worst" campaigns to trick Hasbro into making a joke figure. I was actually shocked how much that particular voting bloc managed to move the needle.

While those are factors, I think there's a third and bigger reason. The voting mechanisms thus far have had no way to determine if the person casting the vote is actually a Vintage Collection customer. The most recent Fans' Choice winner is Doctor Aphra. Do I think for a second that this was the most wanted figure by a majority of Vintage Collection customers? Not by a damn sight. I think Doctor Aphra fans wanted to see their favorite character win a popularity contest and stuffed the ballot box regardless of whether or not they had any intention of buying the figure. Now, Aphra did not become a problematic retail figure, but this was because she was in 2018's wave three. Waves two and three of that year saw reduced production in response to the notorious glutting of wave one. But I'm certain it would have been a peg warmer if produced at normal levels. Why? Because 5 years after the fact, there is only marginal secondary market heat for both the single carded release and the SDCC Special Action Figure set despite the relative scarcity of each.

There is a way to remedy most of these issues, but it would take some effort on the part of Hasbro and the Official Site (assuming they would host the voting again). Please note that I fully recognize that the amount of effort is probably far too much by a laughable margin, but I want to pitch it anyway. The solution is to tie votes to purchases. This could be done by putting an insert in figures with a QR code that is good for one vote. This would ensure that every vote is cast by someone who actually bought a figure. I realize that this means that he who buys the mostest, votes the loudest. But isn't that the right thing? When the goal should be to determine the most in demand figure from a sales standpoint, the voting shouldn't be as egalitarian as it has been. The bigger customers should have louder voices. Johnny "pallets" Miko should get more votes than the fan who buys six figures a year. As part of this, if customers have to create an account with some basic personal information, such as age, the resulting marketing data could potentially offset the costs for implementing this sort of thing.

I think the type of fan polling described here would result in the most accurate depiction of demand, and the best part is that it would royally screw over the carded only collectors (mwah...mwah ha ha).

---

comments powered by Disqus