Whirlygig, given that most people here seem to want yet another Enterprise in the same size and scale as what we've done, and action figures that are articulated just like the ones we made before, or even action figures like the ones PLAYMATES made, all at a more regular rate of release, it seems like the status quo is what people want.
Right now, that starship subscription system is somethign like the 10th subscription that that company has done. I believe the company was founded on that business model, and they have figured out a way to make it work. We are a sister company of a major distributor. They are our sales team, reaching thousands of retailers. We take consumer pre-orders on new items all the time, but we are not going to change our business model to lock ourselves into a year's worth of releases at the expense of our retail partners.
And I don't know that we're losing ground -- our ships still do well, and we still produce a sizable percentage of the available Trek product. The ships still take time, and maybe we'd step up production on the other product lines if the sales were there, but we have to give equal time to licenses with stronger sales and more urgent media timing, not to mention major retailer interest. TRU still carries the occasional Trek item, but not very much. Curious to see what and how this new licensee does with the brand.