Recently, Hasbro revealed the prototype for Jabba’s sail barge at the New York Toy Fair, which is interesting because it measures a remarkable four feet in length. As a result, it is a perfect fit for the 3.75-inch action figures made for the Star Wars franchise, which should come as welcome news to those who have been collecting such toys for a long, long time. For that matter, it should be noted that the sides of Jabba’s sail barge can be removed for access to its interior, which is important because said interior has received the same care and consideration that went into making the exterior. Summed up, the prototype for Jabba’s sail barge made it clear that it promises to be an amazing product that is packed full of detail, so much so that Hasbro has set up a virtual tour for interested individuals to see what its interior looks like at their leisure.
With that said, there is no guarantee that Jabba’s sail barge will be put into production. What has happened is that Hasbro has announced that it won’t be mass-producing the product unless it has seen sufficient interest from Star Wars fans in the form of 5,000 people who are willing to pre-order one for the cost of $499.99. Essentially speaking, Hasbro is crowd-funding Jabba’s sail barge, which actually makes a fair amount of sense.
First and foremost, the product is expensive. After all, its preorder price of $499.99 suggests that its retail price will be around the same figure, which is not what most people would be willing to pay for a toy, no matter how impressive it might be. As a result, if Hasbro puts Jabba’s sail barge into production, there is no guarantee that it will be able to make a profit, particularly since its lack of similar products means that it doesn’t have a great deal of data with which to inform its predictions on the matter. By refusing to mass-produce Jabba’s sail barge, Hasbro ensures that it won’t be taking serious losses on this particular toy, while also serving other important purposes at the same time.
One example is that this will be an interesting way for Hasbro to see whether there is a potential customer base of Star Wars fans out there for products on a similar skill. After all, if there are people who can be convinced to buy something like Jabba’s sail barge at such a price, it is not unreasonable to think that they might be willing to buy other such products as well. As a result, if Jabba’s sail barge proves to be successful, it seems probable that Hasbro will be interested in making other toys of this kind for the Star Wars franchise and perhaps others as well, depending on the exact nature of the response.
Currently, hundreds and hundreds of people have chosen to pre-order Jabba’s sail barge, which suggests that there is indeed a market for such toys out there. However, it remains to be seen whether there will be enough of them, which will have interesting implications for not just this particular toys but also toys of a similar scale in the future. After all, Hasbro won’t be the only toy-maker paying close attention to what happens next.
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