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Banthaskull interview with Jeff Labovitz

Posted by Bret on 02/15/14 at 06:37 PM Category: Toy Fair 2014

In a pinch-hitting role today at The Hasbro New York Toy Fair Event, I interviewed Jeff Labovitz, the Global Marketing Director, Star Wars at Hasbro.  I’ve had very brief interactions with him at past events, but this was the first interview I’ve done with him (or anyone for that matter.)  Jeff was very pleasant to talk to, and while I certainly wasn’t carrying on hard-hitting journalism, I do hope that I conveyed to him some of the feelings our Banthaskull community is experiencing regarding the line.  I want to thank Jeff for taking the time to focus on my questions and providing me with some insight behind the scenes of Hasbro Star Wars.

Please note that the questions and answers are paraphrased, as I did not record the interview, nor did I write anything down.  I committed the entire interview to memory, so for those of you that know me, I might as well have just made up this entire conversation.

We exchanged brief introductions, then (again, paraphrasing):

nomad: Although TPM may not have been everyone’s favorite, Walmart TPM 3D did a nice job of celebrating the movie, and along with Toys R Us, we are able to round out the podracer subset.  TRU seems to have a of history of carrying successful multipacks, so in similar fashion to TPM 3D, might there be a chance we could see a pre-episode 7 push at TRU to pay homage to the OT and get out some multipacks to help fulfill collector desire for Jabba denizen / Cantina aliens?

Jeff:  The TPM push was a nice vehicle to get out some of those figures, and there is most likely something in the works to acknowledge the OT prior to Episode 7.  We’re looking to bring back some OT figures that were hard to find at retail over the past few years.  We will continue our great partnerships with TRU, Walmart, and Target.

nomad: What about Entertainment Earth?  They’ve had success with bringing to market some great figures and multipacks that might otherwise have never seen the light of day (*1).

Jeff:  It has been a while, but we’d love to keep it going with EE in the future.

nomad: Our readers feel that there may be a strategy by Hasbro to focus collectors on the 6” line, while simultaneously making the 4” line more kid-friendly.  Is this valid, and if so, where does that leave the future of collector-focused figures in the 4” line?

Jeff:  Hasbro is planning on continuing the collector focused 4” line, with more to come at SDCC.  The 6” line is successful, but it is not meant to replace the 4” line, as they are going strong with “Rebels”.

nomad:  But the Rebels line is 5 POA, and the community we represent wants the traditional SA line to continue.  I personally have a large collection, and I’m not particularly interested in switching scales or aesthetics with what seems to be trending.

Jeff:  Not to worry, there will still be product for you!

nomad:  Does your market research indicate if children from the PT generation are sticking with Star Wars and turning into adult collectors?  I know my nephew was a huge fan of The Clone Wars when it first aired, but now that he’s a teenager, he’d rather spend his money on Xbox games.

Jeff:  Yes, we feel they are!  The Clone Wars was definitely a great way to introduce kids to the Star Wars universe, and we think they’re sticking with it in significant enough numbers.

nomad:  Episode 7 is still far off, but what is the strategy regarding SA vs. 5POA, and whether the line will have OT/PT figures mixed in?

Jeff:  Still too early to tell how this will pan out.  Disney is pretty tight-lipped as to what they are able to reveal regarding plans for Rebels and Episode 7.

nomad:  I’m sure you’ve fielded a million questions about distribution…

Jeff:  Ha! I have no idea what you’re talking about!

nomad:  (nomad note:  Neither do I! - thanks a lot, Chris!)  So how do you feel the issue has progressed?  Better or worse?

Jeff:  It’s a constant battle, but he feels it’s definitely improved and Hasbro will continue to do everything they can to make sure the flow of product is smooth and as consistent as possible.

nomad:  The fan anticipation leading up to TPM in ‘99 was of previously unheard of proportions.  Hindsight being 20/20, we can say that LFL over saturated the market with product of all kinds.  What are your thoughts as we start moving towards Episode 7?

Jeff:  One of the biggest concerns is ensuring that enough product makes it to market, but if we had to err on one side, it would be to have a little less instead of more.  Obviously too little will upset and frustrate those that want to buy, but too much just slows everything down.  It’s a fine line, but a lot of the key members of Hasbro’s Star Wars team were part of the TPM push in ‘99, and we are paying attention to history.

nomad:  Regarding case assortments, a lot of collectors are frustrated that figures in demand are short-packed, and less popular figures are doubled up and then carried forward.

Jeff:  It’s always hard to tell demand for a specific figure at a specific point in time.  We plan the case assortments far in advance, and sometimes it doesn’t work out.  I’d rather have a few more Anakins sitting on the shelf for a while because they will eventually sell one way or another over time, but if we overproduce, for example, Bastila Shan, that figure will clog the shelves as soon as the specific, and relatively small, collector demand is satisfied.

nomad:  There seems to be a high demand among our readers for something as simple and straight forward as a TIE Fighter or X-Wing in the Class II Vehicle line.  Is this possible?

Jeff:  We’d love to do it, but it doesn’t work.  Everything we’ve tried at that scale makes those ships look stylized and out of whack with the rest of the line, and we think collectors would hate it. 

nomad:  The Class II vehicles are great, and it worked for the Slave I, among others

Jeff:  Absolutely!  But we’ve just been unable to make the Xwing and TIE work at that scale, and believe me, we’d love it, too.

nomad:  Again, while TPM isn’t a fan favorite, I personally enjoyed the MTT.  While I have no idea whether it was successful at retail…

Jeff:  It was!

nomad:  ...I also enjoyed the mini-rig that was meant to interact with the MTT.

Jeff:  Yes, that worked well.  We can consider this type of thing for the future.  We haven’t done playsets in a while…

nomad:  How about a Death Star?

Jeff:  What?  Nobody has ever asked for that!

nomad:  Ha!  Well, you know we want it!

Jeff:  How much would you pay for it?

nomad:  I know it would be expensive, but depending on what was included, it could be modular, and I’d personally be willing to pay nicely for it.

Jeff:  Okay, even modular.  How much would you look to pay for the whole thing to complete it?

nomad:  300.  400.  Maybe 500 if it was done well.

Jeff:  (pointing upwards)  More than that to get it right. 

nomad:  Using the Vintage playset as a point of reference…

Jeff:  That would cost a lot more than $300 today.  We just don’t think it’s feasible, and not enough people would be willing to spend on it.  Believe me, we’d love to do it, and we’ve looked at many ways to get it done, but it’s not possible now.

nomad:  (pointing) Lookest over there…

Jeff:  (Looks over there)

nomad:  Ha Ha!  Madest thou look.  So endeth the trick.

Jeff:  (pauses)  Heeeeyyyy…

nomad:  Yeesss…(*2)

nomad:  Is there a character out there that you personally would love to see made, but you just haven’t found a proper slot yet?

Jeff:  Well, I was really happy with to get a Mara Jade out there, and Jocasta Nu was a big accomplishment.  Now I can move on to the next thing!


*1 - At the event, Paul Harrison from JTA introduced me to Adam Pawlus (from Galactic Hunter, 16bit.com, and Entertainment Earth) who is my Star Wars Collector hero!  As you may know, he works for Entertainment Earth, and said he’s been pushing hard for a return of Star Wars exclusives since the last one in 2010 but apparently there’s been some difficulties there.)

*2 - This never happened.  But it could have!




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