Hasbro’s Rogue One – The Death of the StarWars Cross Sell

[Palifan]

I noticed this article and thought it made for a good read about the cross sale for the back of card backs. It does start with the vintage era which is why I've posted it here but do feel free to move it elsewhere if any of the mods think it's in the wrong section.

http://www.actionfigureinsider.com/hasbros-rogue-one-the-death-of-the-starwars-cross-sell/

Ian

 

[Grant_C]

I might have missed it in the article, but I think it because its illegal.

You can advertise a few other toys in the range but not 77 figures with 'collect them all' as it is deemed unfair to kids and parents.

I loved the backing cards and catalogs as a child. But would use this information to harass anyone who would listen, to buy more toys for me.

Ask Dave Tree, he was telling me about it at Spring LFCC this year.

 

[SublevelStudios]

Interesting read.

Card and packaging art really went into decline in the 90's and 00's but on the whole I seen something of a resurgence in dynamic toy packaging. TFA stuff really looked great and broke from that dreadful generic look SW stuff had up till that point.

POTF2 design was ****, no other word for it. Black series was also dreadful IMO, really lacked any imagination.

 

[ScruffyLookingNH]

You didn't miss it, it wasn't there.

Interesting article none the less. I wasn't aware it was illegal. Seriously? Illegal? That's insane and also makes no sense. My daughter collected Trash Packs for a while. Thank god she stopped as each wave had 100 to collect and she stopped at wave 7. 700 of the little bastards to find! Each pack came with a flyer that showed the whole wave of 100. And her latest favourite, Palace Pets, does the same: a leaflet inside the packet showing the full wave. If the cardback cross sell is illegal then surely the fliers must be too? It works exactly the same way. In fact, if it's on the back at least parents can see what they're buying into whilst stood in the toy aisle. Tucked inside they won't see it until they get it home.

And as for illegal that's insane. Toy manufacturers can advertise on kids TV: the kid sat at home, away from the toy shop and in the safety of their home and away from temptation of new toys to nag their parents about. And yet now they can't advertise age appropriate toys that the parent can hold in their hand and make an informed decision about? Is this an EU piece of insanity or a home grown US special? Either way it's ****ing nuts.

 

[chipsteak]

I'd have never noticed it was gone had it not been pointed out.

For me, the Cross Sell died they day they started having numerous 3.75" series running at the same time with, almost random, figures listed on the back. The fact that one needed to cross-check websites to see what other figures are out rendered the Cross-Sell largely irrelevant.

 

[SOJ]

My understanding is it illegal to advertise figures that aren't available in stores. For example, if they followed the vintage model all the TFA figures would still need to be on pegs if they showed them on the rogue one card backs. I think I heard it on the toyrun podcast a week or so ago.