What if Hasbro sold body parts?

[jarodgates]

This is my 7th or 8th post here so I am still pretty new. Anyway what if Hasbro released or sold a pack of unpainted body parts for custom work? It is my understanding that the parts are mass produced and pulled for whatever figure they are needed for. Why not branch out make some extra $$ by selling excess parts for customizers. Just a thought. Probably not a very good one at that.

[COBRACOLLECTOR]

I luv that idea i doubt they ever do it tho. the next best thing is if ur good enuff to make molds and make ur own figures from scratch

[Scoop]

As much as Hasbro says that they like the idea of people "customizing" their products, I can't see them going out of their way to supply people with separate parts. I mean think of it this way, the more customs people decide to make, the more whole figures they will have to buy. Hasbro in turn makes more money from customizers purchasing multiples than it would from body parts alone. Sometimes your customs might need parts from 3 or 4 different figures. Right now that's going to be at least $6.84 X 4. Now if they sold an arm or leg for $2 each, or a head for $1 customizers would definitely buy, but Hasbro wouldn't profit as much. It is also a waste of time for a toy company like Hasbro to open up another division of their company to deal with customizing products when their top priority is making toys for children.

If this were ever done I could only see this being done online only. Bottom line is that a toy company wants you to purchase entire figures. If you break a part on one of your figures they expect you to purchase another full figure, not just a leg. I guess this is why Hasbro never offered O-ring replacements through their mail order forms. I think 5 Flag points for 50 O-rings would have been great. I always fixed my ARAH figures with regular rubber bands but they weren't the same and never lasted as long.

[dasaffe]

Hasbro never offered o-ring replacements because they're a toy company, not a plumbing supply company.

The same logic applies to why they won't offer runs of unpainted parts.

They're not in the business of niche collector/hobby supply. They're a massive toy company that relies on large production runs to make money on the margins.

This idea came up a while back and Hasbro said at the time they weren't interested for the above reasons.

A note about construction: the parts aren't produced in surplus then assembled into figures, each mold is aligned with each other mold and the parts are created at once and then assembled. That means there aren't massive amounts of Duke arms laying around the factory in China and some Hasbro wonk says "take those and plug them into this snake eyes body."

Instead, each figure is planned, tooling is set aside, it's cast with the appropriate plastic colors and assembly happens then.

So while there are a few hundred or perhaps thousand parts laying around in China somewhere, those are overage and will likely be tossed or recycled not resold through some outlet to the niche consumer market.

[fireflyguy]

Yeah, I see Scoop and dasaffe's points. I would sooooo love to see Hasbro put out a "parts pack", but I was just thinking to myself the other day, "Am I the only fool that will buy a figure just to use their upper leg?" And apparently the answer is "NO!"

I would also love to be able to make my own mold. How cool would that be? I've wondered if I could take all the Joe parts I don't use and melt them down and make something really cool.

[minstrelboy]

I wish the Hasbro plant was here in the US, and they had factory imperfect bins people could come and rummage through. I'd definitely buy parts as opposed to whole figures to customize. I used to all the time when I was a kid, but I haven't had the heart to break open a new Joe I just paid $7 for - yet. Whenever these figures are surplus on eBay, and relatively cheap, I will start buying them up for customs.

[crock master]

it would be cool, but hasbro is to lazy to make their own molds.. they would rather repaint. this line of 25th is cool and all, but in the 80's it was always a goldmine at the stores and not one joe shared a body part with another..

[G.I.Eddie]

it would rock! sadly, theres not as much profit in it, and we all know that thats what its really all about...

...but in the 80's it was always a goldmine at the stores and not one joe shared a body part with another..

i wouldn't go that far...i know there was some part sharing, but very minimal compared to todays 25th line

[mikeTime]

What about giving us some weapons packs like back in the day. Can we ask Hasbro that in the next round of Q & A?

[Reznor]

It would be strange if Hasbro sold body parts. I always knew I could get good toys from them, but actual cadavers? That would be strange.

[spacemonkeymafia]

Im guessing that would be creepy.........selling peoples body parts...Ewwwwwwwwww

[minstrelboy]

Weapons packs could definitely be somethng to look forward to in the future if the line continues.

[gdztoyz]

The loose body parts would be cool, but yeah, I don't think Hasbro would EVER do anything like that. How about white (or maybe black and/or army green) blank generic full bodies, with interchangeable parts? That way Hasbro gets to sell a full figure, and we get our pieces for customs. Urban vinyl companies are making a killing off of selling blanks! Just look up Dunnys, Munny's, etc. And it's not to far out of the realm of possibility. Hasbro actually made blank white My Little Ponies, available on HTS, and my wife (who customizes Ponies), loves 'em!

[The Fridge]

it would be cool, but hasbro is to lazy to make their own molds.. they would rather repaint. this line of 25th is cool and all, but in the 80's it was always a goldmine at the stores and not one joe shared a body part with another..

There was a ton of part sharing in the original line. You may not have noticed or been as picky as a kid, but repaints and part sharing has been a trademark of the Joe line since day one. Look at the origianl 13, or Dusty's lower legs and boots. Half of the Joes had the same crotch.

[dealer]

If Hasbro sold body parts I would buy 100 Duke arms and burn them.

[DOC]

If Hasbro sold body parts I would buy 100 Duke arms and burn them.

What he said.....

[gdztoyz]

There was a ton of part sharing in the original line. You may not have noticed or been as picky as a kid, but repaints and part sharing has been a trademark of the Joe line since day one. Look at the origianl 13, or Dusty's lower legs and boots. Half of the Joes had the same crotch.


Very true, man. I honestly don't get why so many get in an uproar over the re-use of parts...like you said, it's been like that since day one!

[Bamphalas]

If Hasbro decided to do something like Bionicle did with the barrel of miscellaneous parts, I would buy it. Just put in the complete set of parts for 5 random figures in an opaque container. Leave them cast in whatever color they normally would, but no paint. Save on the assembly and paint costs. Encourage wild purchasing by making the figures unknown, and I think they'd sell the crap out of them. Or, if they made a package of say 20 different unpainted heads (or whatever part) they'd sell a bunch and net them greater profits than the sum of the parts (individual figures). And, instead of selling it via Wal-Mart where there is less profit, they only sell it online or mail-away.

Probably will never happen. But one can dream. :)