Integration

[Joe Moore]

You're assessment that the toys are cheap to produce is extremely inaccurate. Having interned, worked with and consulted for, various toy companies over the last 13 years, I know exactly how expensive it can be to produce a single figure. I also am painfully aware of how difficult it can be to get retailers to buy into your product.

Bandai Japan and Bandai USA are dealing with two wholly and vastly different markets. They are also catering to very different age groups. You are also vastly underestimating the power of retail chains. This toy line hit in August. Retailers had such little faith in the line at first that they were relegated to very small footprints. With retailer interest, initially, lukewarm at best, it can be hard for a company to justify dumping a large amount of money in R&D for a lien that no one had any idea how it would sell.

Target, who initially refused to carry the line at all, finally relented. But they did not start carrying the line until December, a full 4+ months after it was released. Bandai USA has acknowledged that the line has sold better than anticipated. But even after all of that, Thundercats is still being relegated to small footprints in stores and toy aisles.

Had Thundercats been less successful, or an outright failure, Bandai USA has a myriad of other properties that will still bring in the money. Where as Playmates has no other major property to fall back on if TMNT fails. They made the conscience decision to go the higher end route with their designs. Also, we haven't seen how retailers are reacting to the new TMNT lines or what shelf space is being given up for it. But we do know hat retailers have much more recent data, on how well TMNT toys have sold, to make a more informed decision.