The Force Awakens Toys Leak Early; Still No Official Images or Announcements from Hasbro
Starting yesterday, there have been a lot of leaks of new The Force Awakens action figures. Some of the toys leaked at Walmart and others have been found on eBay, from US sellers, but without information on how they were obtained.
There have been one or two surprises, the new character Constable Zuvio for example, but most of the characters in this first wave of toys were expected. Kylo Ren, Rey, Finn and Poe Dameron, along with the Stormtrooper, were all shown in the trailers and it’s no shock that Hasbro would lead with them.
It’s also not a surprise that these are leaking out. Not only was there an opportunity for these figures to hit eBay from foreign sellers but every previous street date has been broken by a few stores, either accidentally by those responsible for stocking shelves or by collectors armed with store inventory codes. This year, however, seems to be the first time that Hasbro and/or Lucasfilm didn’t make an announcement of what we could expect during the retail launch.
For previous releases we’ve had checklists and usually early product looks either via Toy Fair or one of the major conventions. Here we are, three weeks from launch and the best info we have comes not from slick press photos released by Hasbro or a media partner such as EW or USA Today (or even collecting fan sites), but instead via grainy and sometimes blurry cell phone pictures.
We’re not sure why this level of secrecy is being applied. Whether it’s to temper expectations of movie goers, to stave off backlash from collectors or for some other reason. But the normally proactive marketing of Hasbro and Lucasfilm, and certainly by Disney, doesn’t seem to hold with this release.
Star Wars has not had a large toy presence at retail for the last two years with Walmart and Target not even carrying some Hasbro assortments. Many individual stores couldn’t seem to get stock to the shelves even when they had room for those assortments. There will be no shortage of inventory to go around come September 4th, but why the secrecy? With rumored pick-up shots for The Force Awakens taking place and the secrecy behind the toys and the characters, it makes us start to wonder if the anticipation for this film is too high. What if it’s not as good as the trailers are leading us to believe? What if the characters don’t click with fans and collectors the way Luke, Han and Leia did 40 years ago?
Even Bob Iger, Disney Chairman and CEO, made mention of expectations during a recent earnings call. Estimates of a $650 million domestic box office, with some worldwide numbers hitting $2.2 billion, seem possible but, as reported on EW.com, Iger doesn’t want to get ahead of the game. “Let’s all continue to anticipate the movie and be optimistic about it. But we have to take a wait-and-see approach about what it will do.”
The way toys are leaking now, it seems we could see all or most of the Force Friday merchandise before the official release date. Possibly even before the Disney/Lucasfilm/Hasbro marketing team gets in the game. It seems odd that a major entertainment company would want to launch a huge retail initiative on the back of blurry cell phone snapshots.