I think WM was both a blessing and a curse to the company. Without the contract they would not have survived but ultimately brought their failure. We can talk about them dictating terms to WM but lets face it, no supplier can get away with that nevertheless a small military toy company.
I think 21C could have addressed some quality issues, but lets face it, these were cheap toys and not museum pieces. I think less than 1% of what they put out was truly unacceptable. That is a pretty darn good quality record for most industries, nevertheless toys. KOF aside I think most of us have been pleased with the vast majority of our purchases.
Packaging smaller may have pleased the stores but I don't think this was anything other than a small issue.
Case assortment could have helped, but the reality is when they invested capital in a new mold they needed to run the bejeesus out of it. Could they really afford to carry inventory and make small production runs to mix four different planes to a case? Probably not. If they could have the discussion here would be how case assortment made finding elusive planes impossible killed the business!
![Razz :P](./images/smilies/icon_razz.gif)
The many varied product lines may have helped or hurt. It did seem 1/32 was very successful and I think a more sustainable scale. At $14.99 each I am not sure they made much money on each item though. As a manufacturer if you can make a buck you do it. My guess is cost to market on smaller scales was more reasonable. It could be 21C did this to try to carry the 1/18 business. Who can really say?
I agree with JJ that more figure releases and smaller, lower price point products would have helped move inventory. I think 21C did listen to the collectors and tried to accomodate us. The reality is we cannot carry this market. WM and TRU were a way to get this out to the masses. Without these big box contracts 21C would have remained an AT. No offense to AT but they haven't given us much in the way of product.
I am sad to see 21C go and I think they were very successful for the time they were in business. Without them my collection would be about 1/4 size.
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