MR drops CE line...Qui-Gon ONLY one to be made!

[Lord Abaddon]

In 2006, Master Replicas launched a new category of MR product, called Collectors Edition prop replicas. The idea behind Collectors Editions was to create a new version of a prop that corresponded with an already-released Limited Edition prop replica. However, unlike the LEs, the CEs would have an open ended edition size, and would be made from more “standard” materials than the high-end Limited Editions. This strategic move was made in an effort to (a) provide a more affordable product for those consumers who had no interest in LEs, and (B ) to ensure that some version of these props was available to future collectors, for years to come.

While Master Replicas maintains that the CE strategy works conceptually, we have evaluated the data accumulated throughout the year, and decided to discontinue the CE line in 2007. Despite our best efforts to highlight the various differences in CEs and LEs, consumers – as a whole – did not warm up to the concept. From a results standpoint, the CE program did not meet our expectations. More importantly, in light of recent events (including, but not limited to, our impending merger with Corgi) it has become clear that the CE strategy is not in line with who Master Replicas is, and who we will be following the completion of the merger.
This means several things:

(1.) The Qui Gon Jinn Collectors Edition Lightsaber will be the only CE released; that, in and of itself, will most likely increase the value of this collectible.

(2.) Master Replicas will be unveiling new product types and categories in 2007 – product categories that work in conjunction or complement our already popular LE prop replicas. Stay tuned for exciting new announcements from Master Replicas in the upcoming weeks and months.

If you have any questions, or are in need of additional information, please contact customer service at CustomerService@MasterReplicas.com.[/b]

So they drop the only line available to the average fan, at a reasonable price, that you don't have to deal with scalpers and jerks to get because they made only so-n-so worldwide. Nice. And how the hell can any company know how well something is by releasing ONE item? And Qui-Gon wouldn't be hugely popular anyway. Try an OWK ANH CE and see what happens.

I think I'll go back to fan made props again.

 

[yt]

In all fairness, they can't win. A lot of people (myself included) were pissed about the whole CE thing, and now when they pull back, people are pissed.

 

[CeSquared]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Lord Abaddon @ Dec 12 2006, 12:07 AM) [snapback]1375796[/snapback]</div>

I think I'll go back to fan made props again.
[/b]

I gave up on MR when they started charging $50 a year to be in their "Collector's Society".

I liked them better when they automatically put you on it after your first purchase.

 

[TheRealMcFly]

And I was hoping to see a Luke ROTJ. I'll bet the line was pulled because it was killing the LE sales... I heard the CE was just as good. I'm not claiming that I know how to create a buisness model, but how about offering the CEs after the end of the LE run?

 

[Lord Abaddon]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(yt @ Dec 11 2006, 06:14 PM) [snapback]1375799[/snapback]</div>

In all fairness, they can't win. A lot of people (myself included) were pissed about the whole CE thing, and now when they pull back, people are pissed.
[/b]

To me the CE line was a great idea handled bad. I knew it would piss people off because it would (and has) devalued the LE line, but the EE already took it's own hits. They are trying too hard to be the Frankin Mint of props and we all know what Franklin Mint is worth.

They should have two lines. LE, high end, great materials, limited, in the upper prices that hard core, "I don't care about cost" fans can buy and CE, low end, good materials, lower priced, unlimited for everybody else. A CE OWK ANH would sell like mad, ditto a Luke or Vader.

Frankly they should have had EE (or LE, whatever the name) and CE and that's it.

I know they pay LFL a hefty license fee and I appreciate that. I have always loved MR props, their quality (except the helmets), and their support...but they started to play the pricing game too much and also the "limiteds" game. They should adopt a model like Sideshow...that seems to be working out great.

 

[cayman shen]

This is a heartbreaker. I was REALLLLLY looking forward to the Mundi CE.

Gotta say, I saw it coming though. It's a shame.

 

[Grouch]

The Anti-CE crowed on RS.com had to many irrational and unfounded view on that they thought the CE line would do to their investment in the LE line.

The CE wasn't put to rest because it didn't sell well. But it also didn't help that they picked the most generic looking saber to start it with. Force FX's didn't sell well in their first few years but now they make 10s of thousands of them.

The CE was put down because there were too many sandy (girl bits) crying about maybe losing money they never spent.

 

[ortiz34]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(incrediPAUL @ Dec 11 2006, 07:21 PM) [snapback]1375802[/snapback]</div>

I'll bet the line was pulled because it was killing the LE sales...
[/b]

BINGO.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Grouch @ Dec 11 2006, 07:42 PM) [snapback]1375817[/snapback]</div>

But it also didn't help that they picked the most generic looking saber to start it with.
...
The CE was put down because there were too many sandy (girl bits) crying about maybe losing money they never spent.
[/b]

Bingo again.


They picked a weak saber for starters.

They made it look too good. After picking up the CE for 150- I would NEVER consider dropping 350- for the LE.

I want the prop, a plaque with a meaningless number is of no value to me, but the 'investors' have spoken I guess...

The fact that you can get these ce's for much cheaper than the mr direct price also killed them.
Why do people buy anything direct from them anyways now?

On a side note, the mini sabers death is imminent too id guess, those things are worthless.
Almost all of them can be had for half of msrp or less...

 

[GrenadeKing]

In all honesty, they should have made a real cheapy lightsaber from solid plastic. Charge 50 bucks for it, it looks good on a poor mans shelf, the prop guys can buy a crap load and do whatever to them, they dont devalue the LE's any so the collectors dont whine. Little johnny gets his cool accurately scaled saber, and daddy gets his super shiney rare LE. Everyone is happy.
Least that's what I think anyway...

 

[TheRealMcFly]

Maybe if they have started with the Luke ROTJ saber, the line would have seen a future. People love that thing... and so do I. Oh well, I don't want to MR bash. Running any buisness with a customer base as discriminating as this has got to be a nightmare.

 

[rmschneider104]

I'd like to echo your comments. Not the strongest saber to start out the line. Plus the discrimminating collector has to be super challenging to meet their needs all the time.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(incrediPAUL @ Dec 12 2006, 02:00 AM) [snapback]1375879[/snapback]</div>

Maybe if they have started with the Luke ROTJ saber, the line would have seen a future. People love that thing... and so do I. Oh well, I don't want to MR bash. Running any buisness with a customer base as discriminating as this has got to be a nightmare.
[/b]

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

I hope at least they will look at bringing the Mara saber out as a LE.

 

[Anakin Starkiller]

I gotta say that this is a real shame, and I think in the long run this decision will hurt MR's Star Wars sales.

In a few years, MR will have done all of the main character's lightsabers in LE form and perhapse EE form.

What then?

Are collectors going to pay $360.00 for a LE Ki-Adi Mund lightsaber of $360.00 for a Kit Fisto lightsaber?
Doubtful. Sure some people will shell out the cash, but most Star Wars fans will not want to pay close to $400 for a replica of the lightsaber used by that cone head guy. The CE line was going to allow MR to start making the more osbscure items from the films and sell them at a lesser price, also it was an open ended program which would have allowed MR to keep making lightsabers once edition sizes have been reached.

I think that the CE line didn't work very well with the Qui-Gon saber because the CE version was too much like the LE. Both were metal, both were identical in proportion, one was slightly shinier. How many people will pay $200.00 more so that their lightsabers can be slightly shinier.

The CE line, when it was fist presented sounded. great, because it was a lower end lightsaber replica. That's what it should have been. The Qui-Gon saber would have worked great for this because the original was mostly resin. If they had done the Qui-Gon with the black parts resin like originally planned, there would have been a distinct difference between the two versions. The LE crowd would have been happy because they would have known what they paid an extra $200.00 for and the CE crowd could have gotten a replica of this lightsaber at a more reasonable price. I think that the CE line could have worked great for council sabers since their mostly resin anyways. A CE Ki-Adi Mundi saber with a resin body and metal detail piece, priced around $100.00 would have sold like hotcakes.
Instead, MR released two virtually idenitcal sabers at about the same time for two drastically different prices and people said, "what the hell is going on here?"

In addition, when MR quickly anounced that it would be reissuing many of their old LE lightsabers in CE form (which to may collectors now meant virtually idenitical but for $200.00 less) alot of collectors asked, "what did I pay $360.00 for?"

I think the biggest mistake that MR made was switching the body of the Qui-Gon CE saber from resin to metal, it effectively killed sales on the Qui-Gon LE saber and in the long run doomed the CE line in favor of the LE line. The CE line should have been made at a marketly different materials and standards of contruction. This dosen't mean it would be crap, but I don't see any problem with making the black sections on a Qui-Gon or OWK EP1 saber from resin, or the main bodies on councel sabers from resin. This would have solidified the difference between the two lines and provided a product for people in both price ranges

Too bad, could have been something nice.

Dan
DDStokes@aol.com

 

[teecrooz]

Whoa. Let me see if I got this right. LFL is foregoing an opportunity to make money?

It's too bad a few people were worrying about it having a negative impact on their "investment". It's the true collectors that suffer. CE, you will be missed.

 

[Lord Abaddon]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Anakin Starkiller @ Dec 11 2006, 08:25 PM) [snapback]1375904[/snapback]</div>

I gotta say that this is a real shame, and I think in the long run this decision will hurt MR's Star Wars sales.

In a few years, MR will have done all of the main character's lightsabers in LE form and perhapse EE form.

What then?

Are collectors going to pay $360.00 for a LE Ki-Adi Mund lightsaber of $360.00 for a Kit Fisto lightsaber?
Doubtful. Sure some people will shell out the cash, but most Star Wars fans will not want to pay close to $400 for a replica of the lightsaber used by that cone head guy. The CE line was going to allow MR to start making the more osbscure items from the films and sell them at a lesser price, also it was an open ended program which would have allowed MR to keep making lightsabers once edition sizes have been reached.

I think that the CE line didn't work very well with the Qui-Gon saber because the CE version was too much like the LE. Both were metal, both were identical in proportion, one was slightly shinier. How many people will pay $200.00 more so that their lightsabers can be slightly shinier.

The CE line, when it was fist presented sounded. great, because it was a lower end lightsaber replica. That's what it should have been. The Qui-Gon saber would have worked great for this because the original was mostly resin. If they had done the Qui-Gon with the black parts resin like originally planned, there would have been a distinct difference between the two versions. The LE crowd would have been happy because they would have known what they paid an extra $200.00 for and the CE crowd could have gotten a replica of this lightsaber at a more reasonable price. I think that the CE line could have worked great for council sabers since their mostly resin anyways. A CE Ki-Adi Mundi saber with a resin body and metal detail piece, priced around $100.00 would have sold like hotcakes.
Instead, MR released two virtually idenitcal sabers at about the same time for two drastically different prices and people said, "what the hell is going on here?"

In addition, when MR quickly anounced that it would be reissuing many of their old LE lightsabers in CE form (which to may collectors now meant virtually idenitical but for $200.00 less) alot of collectors asked, "what did I pay $360.00 for?"

I think the biggest mistake that MR made was switching the body of the Qui-Gon CE saber from resin to metal, it effectively killed sales on the Qui-Gon LE saber and in the long run doomed the CE line in favor of the LE line. The CE line should have been made at a marketly different materials and standards of contruction. This dosen't mean it would be crap, but I don't see any problem with making the black sections on a Qui-Gon or OWK EP1 saber from resin, or the main bodies on councel sabers from resin. This would have solidified the difference between the two lines and provided a product for people in both price ranges

Too bad, could have been something nice.

Dan
DDStokes@aol.com
[/b]

VERY well said Dan.

 

[tripoli]

If MR really wanted to make the CE line fly...
MR could have done it at a 100 dollars in a resin or fiberglass and maybe made the sale, An accurate Hasbro like saber for $ 100 is alot to ask. So I think the metal was the way to go, but with different metals and a slightly different finish that made it easy to tell it from the higher quality line. Even then, the price needed to be around $ 150.
The second mistake was marketing the two Qui's together at the same time. They should have picked the Obi or Luke Rotj. Obviously they were trying to save cost on machining and R&D but that came back to bite them worse than the cost of waiting or holding it for a later time which they should have done.

I think it was a mistake as they are trying to sell them selves as a collectable company. Mass produced unlimited editions defeat that perspective to the collecting community and it does lower the collectability of the higher end products. So they needed to choose thier image and marketing scheme and stick with it. It cost them their reputation at a critical time when they were experiencing QC issues as well. A bad one two punch.

In the end, the change and change again hurts them. But better a mid course correction than trying to make money at the cost of their reputation. Now the question is, can they keep their continuity on product lines and quality high here on out...

 

[kuyadavid]

I agree that this was a no-win scenario for MR. I am generally a big MR supporter. I have lots and lots of items from them, from FX to CE to LE to EE.

I must say that the Qui Gon CE gave me some angst. The quality was nice enough to make me think twice about getting an LE -- and, in fact, that is the only reason I resisted getting the LE version of that saber. And yet now I am tempted to buy someone's LE saber case to allow the presentation to more closely match my LE's... which will start bringing the price up near what the LE would have cost me in the first place.

All in all, I am not unhappy with the decision to end the CE line.

 

[AndySertin]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sluis Van Shipyards @ Dec 11 2006, 07:17 PM) [snapback]1375895[/snapback]</div>

I hope at least they will look at bringing the Mara saber out as a LE.
[/b]

Not too bad of an idea.... Test the waters with the CE. They could try it, EU, Council etc..... Who knows, if was deemed marketable, they could bump it into the LE

 

[JD]

MR dropped the ball on the CE line. It was a great idea, I kinda never understood their game plan when they started if all their items were meant to be limited editions... if Joe Blow decides now he'd like a saber A - that MR made 1,500 of 6 years ago, what's the guy gonna do? He's gonna search eBay, see astronomical prices and say no way.



The standard iconical sabers will always have some demand - they're not going to want a Ki-Adi Mundi, they're going to want that Luke/Vader/Obi ANH or ROTJ or whatever... even the Qui-Gon and the other "star" items of the saga. The CE was the perfect idea to keep the saber the general public wants in their hands. There was to be a steady supply with a reasonable price.



Sadly, as I stated above MR dropped the ball... the Qui-Gon was delayed and I still haven't seen it in any retail outlet - major or otherwise. They also released it almost simultaneously with the LE. Who's going to want a LE when the reviews of the CE have been stellar and it's sunstantially cheaper? Why not push a product with a built in market? A Luke ANH or ROTJ? Maybe even do a dueling or father/son edition and push a Luke and Vader together? Would've looked great on the Christmas rush shelves...



The FX line is moving fairly well at the stores I've seen them at. And it's not because of a Qui-Gon saber.



Well at the very least, the CE proved that MR can, at the very least, drop their prices

 

[Cenobyte]

I think they best answered why in this quote..

"Despite our best efforts to highlight the various differences in CEs and LEs, consumers – as a whole – did not warm up to the concept."

About it being a "crock", would you continue to produce an item that is apparently NOT selling as expected and has been getting more negative response than positive and just to see it being sold at wholesale or bargain bin prices eventually just to clear them out.

That original poster's sentiment seems to not make any sense to me.