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Old 11-12-2007, 12:13 PM #9
Mike T
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It was also stated several times that the Hasbro production #s were between 100-150k units.

I don't know where that info came from but it is likely way too high. The TRU exclusives were produced in numbers between 16K-20K from 2004 on. The regular figures were largely believed to have production runs well under 100K...more likely in the 40K-60K range with some waves being higher and others being lower. The comic packs likely saw production runs in line with the TRU exclusives - maybe a bit higher for some waves that were eventually clearanced.

DTC was dramatically scaled back to around 10K cases of Wave 1. That was a HUGE overproduction and Hasbro scaled back production on subsequent waves. Truth be told, it's likely that the Vietnam and DD comic pack wave was produced in numbers similar to Wave V from 2002, and that only had a maximum of 5,000 of each figure produced.

Hasbro was making lots of money off each figure back in the modern era. But, they sold so few that it still wasn't enough to keep the line going. Despite what a lot of places want to tell you, Joes are pretty cheap to make...even with the packaging. Even at low production runs, you could afford to sell Joes for reasonable prices and make a hefty profit. But, Hasbro it too big to really care about that in most cases since a 5K production run isn't going to affect the bottom line at all. I have a suspicion that the 25th stuff will end up just as common as the JvC stuff is these days. Right now, they are taking their time. But, I think we'll eventually see most of the figures become fairly easy to find and very cheap on the second hand market.
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