Frog of Thunder rocks so hard and it isn't a humongous figure. Brick figures don't need to be humongous either.

Well heck, if they are going to do a "humongous" brick figure, they might as well do somebody who deserves to be humongous for a change (you know, like the Joker, tee-hee). They could do a new Sentinel, or Onslaught, or the Forever People on their Super-Trike, or...I dunno...the Avengers Forever Rick Jones / Supreme Intelligence Super-Trike.

Man. Come to think of it, if they're going to keep the mail-away-method, I pretty much demand the Forever People.

Agreed, simply selling the figure isn't what the original intent was.

But really, what do you expect a store to do with those figs that're simply left over from broken bricks? One customer buys 3 boosters, another buys a few, several are sold piece meal to random people you never see again, & one or two get used for prize support due to lack of Prize Kits.....

Sure, they too could be used for prize support. But when all but one player has already purchased at least a brick (and he's been taken care of R-Surtar-wise) is it really a prize?
And this coming from a guy who doesn't really like prize driven play.

So sure, why shouldn't the store try & sell the leftovers? There's at least 3 unclaimed Surtars down at the local shop. And they'll sit there for quite awhile.
(I suppose if someone came into the shop with 10 HoT UPCs they'd be open to redeeming them. But until that happens, or we get some new clix players, if someone wants to make an offer for them....

Is better to have a smile and a good relationship with a Heroclix store Owner than with a mail box.

Is nice that you got our back but please don't make us lean forward.

... and grab our ankles? Carlos

Why not offer 2 BBB figures and give brick buyers the OPTION of choosing the one they want...?

Customers could pick between one smaller in store figure or the larger mail-in figure. This may even prompt people into buying more bricks and gives case buyers the extra reward of being able to redeem 2 different figures instead two of the same figure.

Ummm, this compounds the problem. The issue with in store redemptions is that they have to produce, with a conservative estimate, at least 3 times more brick figures than they do under the mail away. With your solution, instead of choosing between printing n or 3n, they have to produce at least n+3n

Yea and they specifically said it is more cost efficient for the mail away then the HoT way, so combining both and also having 2 sculpts rather than 1 makes zero sense business wise.

Well if they could package the brick fig with the brick that would take care of some of the cost. I don't even want to know what they paid in shipping for 17,000 figures.

I say they should do the mail away but get rid of this limited BS.

None of this would avoid the problem of overproducing the brick figure. They want to produce something like 5k not 17k.

Given the numbers some people buy, how feasible would it be to have a regular sized brick piece to pick up in the store, and a larger sized case piece people mail away for? If the brick piece reused a sculpt from the set there should be a minimal impact on cost.

Mail away is the way to go. Thanks NECA/Wizkids for making a good business decision.

Trying to look at it from a Wizkids perspective, there can only be one answer:

Key: IS=In Store and MA = Mail Away
First you have to ask a bunch of questions (or skip to the bottom for my big two conclusions):

A) What should the "brick" program do?
Obviously it should help sell product. IS/MA both do this.

B) Should it be a brick program be limited to bricks, or any quantity purchasing?
Not everyone buys 10 boosters at once. Will rewarding those that buy over time diminish the sales push to buy complete bricks? This also is not an IS/MA issue.

C) What are the advantages of IS programs?
Save staff and program costs
Immediate rewards for customers
No "while supplies last" unknowns. Customers know immediately.

D) What are disadvantages of IS programs?
Requires overproduction, which lowers demand
Increased distributor handling and shipping costs
Increased store handling and shipping costs

E) What are the advantages of a Mail-Away program
Better control over distribution
Better information about demand helps future decisions
Opportunity to get email-addresses for other possible promotions
Production that does not exceed demand increases longer term interest, keeping the promotion effective longer.

F) Disadvantages of a Mail-Away program
Increased staff and office costs
Adds post office element (lost payments/figures)
Adds "unknown" to brick purchases because of timing/supplies limits as posted on the coupons.

It seems to me that the reason to do a mail-away comes down to the two most important factors.
Number 1) The in-store method requires too much production, which cuts down on the urgency to buy a brick, which really limits the whole purpose of the promotion. I tried giving away Surtur Ragnaroks at our 2nd game night after release and no one wanted them.
Number 2) Mail-Away promotions give the company much better information about how many are needed and what people's buying habits really are. This is invaluable for future planning.

Well as much as I like the brick figures it doesn't really matter much to me. I'm buying bricks or cases anyhow. It's the other 60 figures I'm really worried about getting. As long as their silly brick figs don't effect that I'm happy.

I have said it before and I'm saying it again that they should do a mail away. They should quit with the numbering junk and limitations though.

I disagree that overproduction necessarily lowers demand. The urgency is already there because the time lapse between sets creates the demand. Everyone who buys a brick should be able to get a BBB fig, which IMO is the whole purpose of the promotion (reward the customer). Aftermarket value should not figure into Wizkids plan to give away free BBB figs. I say free because the buyer is only required to pay S and H with mail-in.

How many are needed is equal to the amount of Bricks sold to retailers. Each brick sold to a retailer represents a brick that can be sold to a consumer. No future planning is necessary if you can produce a BBB fig for every single brick sold.

Reduce the cost of BBB figs by using an existing sculpt, with new paint, and a new dial. And by shipping them with the brick. These steps alone would save a load of production and distribution dollars, and IMO give the average customer what he wants the most. A free fig with his brick at point of sale.