I don’t know what it’s been like for you these past several weeks. For me, I have been stuck in my house with a COVID-19 pandemic shelter in place rule in place, leaving only for a supply run to the corner grocery or taking my dog for a walk. My access to new action figures (assuming any are available on local shelves) has been greatly restricted.
I still have access to shopping online for my plastic fix at places like BBTS, but the recent events really have me thinking about what the future holds for action figures and how things might change long-term.
Obviously, with many under the same type of shelter in place restrictions, I am sure several will turn to more online shopping, at least in the immediate future. With that in mind,
WHAT IF a company like Hasbro started shaping how they release figures based more on the online delivery channels?
In particular, I was looking at their recent
Marvel Legends Hydra Soldier army builder figure. The single-packed figure with a few accessories shipped in a mailer-type box with some artwork on it and only cost $14.99.
The packaging is what intrigues me the most about this figure. Not only does it meet the new
non-plastic standards Hasbro is said to be implementing soon for all of its brands, the box also is simple and (I assume) cheaper than the regular Marvel Legends packaging. If most people move to buying their figures online, there is no longer a real need to have the figure visible in the package and the artwork makes it nice if you don’t want to open it.
Now, I don’t see Hasbro as able to lower the price of their Marvel Legends figures across the board to $14.99. Keep in mind the Hydra figure had already been released multiple times, so Hasbro likely already earned the return on their investment in the sculpt. If this was a brand new figure, I doubt they would be able to sell it as cheaply, even with cheaper packaging.
You hear over and over in the media that this is the new norm, and I don’t really know what that means for the long-term. I certainly don’t see people fully giving up shopping at physical stores. I do think there will be a significant shift to more online activity, including shopping, even after the immediate crisis subsides. So maybe shifting the focus on how one sells their products isn’t such a bad idea?