"Master Replicas Dumps Star Wars" (Article from MR website)

[tripoli]

Disney is a great franchise to have, as well the Corgi franchise licenses. But as I noted in past threads, Corgi has a history of taking on mergers and then dumping their license they had merged into. As MR, they continue to take a familiar path, so none of this is really surprising. Unfortunately, if they follow the paths of the past, they will fade to trinket items and fade away from the high quality collectables they had been know for in the beginning.
Add to the fact MR has really tripped up on the QC with a number of high profile SW licensed items this past and it is no surprise that this is occurring. The FX line is a great line which I have enjoyed with my son. But even that has its flaws and there are other systems (higher quality systems) banging at the door to replace it. Again, I don't expect now that there is an established market and demand, that Lucas will sit idly by and do nothing with it.

(Edit) From Lucas:
“We deeply regret that we and Corgi could not come to terms on a new agreement,” said Howard Roffman, President of Lucas Licensing. “We had very much hoped to continue working with them. We know our fans and collectors really love this category and we are working as quickly as possible to bring in new licensees to replace both Master Replicas and Cards Inc.”

 

[Cookiee Monsta]

Maybe QMx will pick up the license?

 

[luckylouie]

I think this is a great development. I think MR did a great job and I have a bunch of their props. But Star Wars is moribund and sabers etc. have been done to death. Plus, I think this could be the signal that we're heading back to an age when prop collecting was less about mass merchandise and more about the thrill of the chase. Expect a resurgence of grassroots prop making and collecting. In any case, MR deserves our praise for producing many cool pieces.

Good luck MR and thanks for the great run of Star Wars props!!!

 

[luckylouie]

Maybe QMx will pick up the license?

That could be a cool wrinkle, actually. They could probably do a bang-up job on blasters judging by the quality of their promotional materials for the Mal pistol.

 

[Chrpica]

That sucks.

More money for me, I guess? Yeah, lets go that route.

 

[JD]

So I guess if there is a new licensee, we could see new editions of already existing limited editions?

There will always be some demand for the classic prop replicas - the Luke and Vader sabers are instantly recognizable and would be items someone would want. That's why MR's Collector's Edition made sense, open ended editions that they could produce as needed. But, that way of business kills the collector's market.

 

[Gojira61]

But as I noted in past threads, Corgi has a history of taking on mergers and then dumping their license they had merged into. As MR, they continue to take a familiar path, so none of this is really surprising. Unfortunately, if they follow the paths of the past, they will fade to trinket items and fade away from the high quality collectables they had been know for in the beginning.

Yup, very true.

I worked in the hobby industry for years and watched Corgi do this over and over again. As Tripoli said, no big surprise here, just sad to see it happen.

Jim

 

[vaderdarth]

LFL has a history of putting the squeeze on contract renewals with it's licensees. I'd be willing to bet that LFL got a bit greedy with the profits and what once was acceptable for MR is not so acceptable with Corgi. Corgi, because of this new merger, probably decided it would literally kill their growth rate by giving the percentage that LFL demands. I don't know what that figure is, but I know that LFL makes all the profits on this stuff..........it's always the little guys, making the investment in materials, producing the product and sending out the product that pay the huge sums. LFL simply sits back and collects a considerable percentage for someone else's hard work. Since Corgi just acquired MR, I promise you it won't have any extra room to budge on what profits it makes with these licenses. LFL probably wanted a little more this time around and Corgi just can't gamble their investor's dollars so haphazardly so soon after this merger. It's very sad really, MR really stepped up to the plate for us collectors. Too bad I'm not a collector of their other licenses........aside from the Muppets of course. I'm pretty die hard SW when it comes to props. I'm sure there are lots out there like me.........who will be forced to take their business elsewhere.

This is only my opinion of course.

Dave

 

[rmschneider104]

Surely this has to be posturing in contract negotiations... I wouldn't want to believe it if it were true...

 

[MattMunson]

I'm surprised so many people are jumping on the "MR will go belly up" bandwagon. MR no longer exists. It was purchased. Corgi will be JUST FINE without the star wars license, so I don't think that's really even a concern.

Still waiting for the obligatory "I told you so" post by bobadebt. maybe I skipped it

My guess is that the profit margins on the Star wars props were manageable for MR, but were below acceptible for Corgi. Cranking out a billion or so toy cars gives you a much better margin over a thousand sabers. it just didn't fit their business model.

No big deal.

I'm confident that some other company will pick up the torch. There's plenty of small sized prop companies out there that might be able to dig up the cash to manage the SW license. Though MR may have covered most of the SW bases, I'm sure there's still people out there willing to shell out money for a saber replica. Who knows.

 

[rudolpht]

I agree with the conclusion and the margin point, but too me it's a big deal

It would be interesting to see another group make a go. I beta on Weta or Sideshow.

But in the end I think it is posturing and they will meet mid-way just as the ball drops in Times Sq.

 

[Hecubus114]

It is gonna suck - but at the same time - there werent many more "big" SW items for MR to make. I know there all still lots of blasters, studio scale, etc. to be done - but lets be honest, lightsabers were their big thing. Studio scale is only attractive to people who can afford to buy them.

My only concern now is that if MR no longer has the LFL license, then another company will come along and make all the items again. While that would be good for people who dont have the harder to find items, it would make the MR pieces all but worthless.

And then theres the possibility that this is a marketing ploy to get people to buy up all their items... and then at the last minute, "oh, well we've come to agreeable terms, nevermind". I doubt it though.

 

[rmschneider104]

But I was really hoping for the SS Slave One... And XWing... And Vader TIE...

 

[Jedi2016]

1. This is what happens when a small company, that was founded on the idea that making props was cool, is purchased by a large, publically owned corporation who doesn't give a rat's ass what people want unless it's overwhelmingly positive to their bottom line. I saw something like this coming the minute I heard about the Corgi buyout. "There goes MR..."

Large public companies have to make ungodly profits just to stay afloat. The company I work for, a private company, recently purchased one of our competitors, a public company (i.e. our boss bought ALL of the shares for a couple o' billion). One of the reasons was that the other company was hemorrhaging cash at every turn. It's amazing how much money a company can save when it doesn't have to spend millions just doing things to impress their shareholders. All of the outlandish spending is being cut off like a tourniquet, and they'll actually start making money again. The exact opposite of what just happened to MR. The profit they were making before was fine, more than fine, for a small private company. But they're in the red as far as a public company is concerned. I wouldn't be surprised if the entire MR devision of Corgi was dissolved within the next eighteen months.

2. Does this mean the "private sector" can begin making SW prop runs again?

 

[BoBoDohn]

I was planning to make the Boba helmet my last MR purchase. Tis a shame.

I wonder how much of the announced 07 product will actually see the light of day.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

LFL simply sits back and collects a considerable percentage for someone else's hard work. Dave

That's not true at all. MR is using Lucasfilm's property to be able to have a business making SW prop replicas. They *have* to pay LFL to make the stuff.


Hopefully someone else will pick it up, but like everyone said most of the blasters and sabers have been done. Only the obscure stuff is left. So I guess it's back to building it ourselves.

 

[Amanaman]

Why don't they just break down the license into weapons, helmets, and studio scales? I think Sideshow is very capable of doing the helmets. Leave the sabers/blasters to Qmx.

 

[yodasan]

I'm surprised so many people are jumping on the "MR will go belly up" bandwagon. MR no longer exists. It was purchased. Corgi will be JUST FINE without the star wars license, so I don't think that's really even a concern.

Have you seen the Corgi stock price? It peaked at about 50 in 2004 and
has been hovering at ~6 this year. Doesn't sound all that "fine" to me.
The drop all happened before the merger so MR was not the problem for
Corgi.

 

[wuher da brewer]

Why is everyone rooting for QmX to secure the license? It seems they have had problems and delays with each and every item to date. Several of their items have yet to be released.

Are all the set backs MR has had recently, especially on helmets, partially responsible for their loss of license?

 

[Amanaman]

No, I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with MR, but more to do with Corgi's lack of understanding and LFL's greed.

I don't know what other company is willing or capable of taking up the sabers/blasters. Any ideas?