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thismeintiel on 31 December 2019
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NightlyPoe said:
thismeintiel said:

We do know that thanks to reporting from Panjiva, who track shipments into the US, merch shipments were down 47% when compared to the same time period for RO.  And 56% when compared to TFA.  Hasbro said they saw lower sales for SW merch, too.  They tried to say it was because they put it out too early, even though it has been when they always have been putting out SW merch, ~3 months before the film comes out.  And yes, all toys get discounted.  However, not many have it happen that soon, unless it isn't selling.

Shipments are not sales or forecasts as to whether the expectations were met.  Additionally, the shipment numbers Panjiva provide actually show the dip happening long before The Last Jedi entered theaters.  Which, if you're reading tea leaves, would be more of an indication that they overshot on the generally well-received Rogue One, not The Last Jedi.

And plenty of The Force Awakens and Rogue One merchandise was discounted earlier than you remember.  Again, my niece's birthday isn't long into the new year and I actually check these things.  Matter of fact, it was actually harder to find stuff for The Last Jedi in my area, but that's anecdotal.  All of the bargain bin stuff is anecdotal.

Now, how about this time you actually address the elephant in the room

I saw only a single retcon that was necessary for the story they told and no poking fun at it.  So I don't know what to tell you.

And yet, the revenue for that department continued to decline, even after TLJ released.  And months later.  Which is really bad because I'm sure it was helped by some big Marvel toy sales.  And just for the record, you brought up the bargin bin, not I.  I assume as some kind of strawman.

You and @Shadow1980 are just getting hilarious at this point.  There was no real retcons or jabs taken at TLJ?  Come on.  Rey's heritage was changed.  Rose Tico was relegated to a very minor character, instead of staying a main one.  Luke says he was wrong for being like he was in TLJ, as well as catching the lightsaber when Rey tried to toss it away like he did.  Speaking of lightsabers, Luke's is fixed, even though it was left broken on Snoke's ship in TLJ.  The "Holdo maneuver" was mocked.  After a big deal was made about hating Kylo's mask in TLJ, he fixes it in ROS.  After the Resistance was completely abandoned in TLJ, suddenly a bunch of people are on their side, now. 

You also have the actors and JJ coming out and being critical of TLJ, instead of at the fans like what happened last time.  In an interview, JJ said that he praised TLJ for having surprises in it, but added "On the other hand...I don't think that people go to SW to be told, 'This doesn't matter.'" John Boyega said he was happy about Abrams return because he "wanted to see where that story was going" and that TLJ left him feeling "iffy," where he felt TFA was a solid start.  In an interview around TLJ's release, Daisy Ridley gave a noncommittal "Um, sure" when asked if she was happy with the film.  Mark Hamill's distaste for the new films has been well documented during TLJ release.  And in response to someone hoping that ROS was good, he told him he could always "wait til it comes to cable."

These are not steps taken and words said for a film that was well received and performed up to their standards.  It's time you just accept the facts on this one.  And if I go back, I'm sure both of you thought that the franchise was perfectly fine and that ROS would outperform TLJ, as is the supposed SW trend for the last in the trilogy.  Doesn't seem like that's going to happen, now.