Yeah I'm with Matt...

All 4 were tough to find, and it's yet another "WTF Hasbro!?" situation I think...

These things are a license to print money for Hasbro...  I may rag on that RFT but he'll still sell if they shipped the head variants.  The Impy FLIES off shelves generally.  The only 2 I found was one with a damaged card at Wal-Mart (blonde) and a brown haired one at the local collector group's summer social.

The black haired RFT I've seen multiple times, but he's the only one I've found regularly (And I mean 3 times when I say regularly).

If Hasbro released those IO head variants over and over I bet they'd always sell.  release them in grey uniforms and they'll sell yet again...

I'd buy those every time I walked into a store if I could, but nobody at Hasbro seems to realize how well that one figure with 3 head variants sells.  The POTJ figure even sold out immediately before anyone else in his wave.

Wish I could find more...  I'll be content with the one of each I got though (And multiple POTJ guys since he was actually semi-easy to get).

But right there the Gunship should've had a cheaper pricepoint then, if it had dramatically higher production rates than what 21st's product have been.  

Though I'm not sure I agree with that sentiment because 21st has utilized their molds over and over via repaints, so their production #'s are, quite possibly, close to what that of the Gunship is...

For instance, the Stuka was first released in the flying pig markings version...  Then the DAK camo version, then a spinach camo online exclusive, and now winter white is shipping to TRU's (And it  wouldn't ship if they weren't selling...  TRU is very picky with 21st about product moving).  

But, the idea that the Gunship had a higher production run means they had higher sales to retail establishments, so by all intents and purposes they should've made their $ back and then some (Hasbro that is)...  

Price point's are generally established early into production determined on the costs of course.  If 21st can create something larger and genuinely better (than the Gunship) for the same price, but not utilize the major costs of mold toolings and such by having a shorter production run, then Hasbro should be able to have had the Gunship come in at a cheaper price point in theory...  I honestly think that's why we saw it clearanced quickly...  I think it was overpriced to begin with (most items are in retail, but I think the Gunship was exagerrated in price more than the usual percentage increases to allow for "sales" and clearance).

Every companies motivation are to keep pricepoints as low as possible for their product offered, and to minimize costs while still making quality product (or services) to the consumer.  I think the thing I'm trying to say is that they can come in at the pricepoint they HAVE been coming in at and deliver a better, and to-scale product if they tried...

Other companies are doing it.

The excuse of the contract with LFL isn't holding up anymore either if you ask me, because 21st Century has multiple expensive contracts they've paid out as well, coupled with their being a private company that faced a buy-out within the last 2 years by Jakks Pacific...  They're paying out royalties to others just the same, to use the names and likenesses of various product and personalities.  

They're also nowhere near the size of Hasbro and have nowhere near the financial "ability", and yet they set the bar or standard Hasbro should work to attain but rarely ever does.

I think Hasbro's capable of more, but they're generally unwilling to bend.  It's not something I've come to expect from them.  It happens sometimes, and I think they deserve criticism when it doesn't, but it's really something I've just come to not expect of them as a company.  I really think it's part of the issue with the line's overall declining popularity though...  

The fact  that the Star Wars franchise as a whole is declining in popularity doesn't help either, but Hasbro's not helping by their refusal to admit that the toy industry IS a competition, and that brand loyalty isn't what it once was.

BBi's New Blackhawk Due Out Soon!!!
Look at this honkin' HUGE thing!!!    I totally was NOT gonna get into modern 1:18 but I can't help but to want this thing, and to fill it with those 1:18 marines BBi is making.  



That's a freakin' huge toy, and check out that detail.  People at the SDCC who saw this in person were speechless.  BBi's stepping things up a notch, and 21st Century has serious competition now.  If BBi's things wind up at brick & mortar retailers like they promised, 21st is gonna have to play some serious catch up.

I didn't even realize the PC version was released.  Someone told me PC was pushed back some, but I guess not.

Gotta get off my @$$ and get that game...  Looks really sweet...  I played with it at my friend Dan's house.  He has an X-Box and wanted a good Star Wars game so I told him to hold off for this since it was predicted to be so good.

It looked nice, but not as visually impressive as I thought it was going to be...  Still it was nice looking (Nothing like Obi-Wan which was terrible in the visual department).

Can't wait to actually get INTO the game though.

Scale's BIG TIME important to me anymore...  Scale vehicles for Star Wars are few and far between...  Even near-scale is rare anymore.  It's an area I find Hasbro will likely never change completely.

What's sad is that, as Adam has said, 21st Century set a bar higher, and Hasbro could rise to meet that...  If they can sell a Stuka Divebomber for $45 and it's 100% accurate and to-scale then Hasbro could make an X-Wing or Y-Wing the same way.

On top of that, Hasbro's toys are almost always less detailed and "crisp" than 21st's are so they're saving some $.  Often they have fewer moving parts as well, which is a HUGE $ saver.

It's tough to buy the X-Treme Detail Huey from their Vietnam line, then buy the Republic Gunship, and not be critical.  The Huey's perfectly scaled, it has detail that you didn't even know was possible, it has a removeable helmet pack-in pilot as I recall, it has moving parts out the whazzoo...

The Gunship's claim to fame was it is one of the larger toys Hasbro's put out in recent years...  It's not to-scale though, it has no pack-in, etc...  It's nice for Hasbro's Star Wars line, it's not nice compared to Hasbro's competition within the toy industry.  So the comparison is gonna go hands down to 21st making the BETTER toy.

There's surprises though, like the TIE Bomber...  No the TIE Bomber's not as nice as a 21st Century vehicle, but it's to-scale, and that's my main gripe overall.

Figure scale is a different story...  21st does relatively well keeping an average scale across the board.  Some figures are noticeably taller than others...  Then again so are real human beings, and none of the figures are inches above or below each other.

Hasbro has made a more strong effort to keep scale uniform now, so I give them props for that.  POTF2 was all over the place, but since the E1 lline and into today, things are much better.

I will say that I wish more toy companies kept scales as "standards".  I dislike the jump to 6" scale because it makes collecting more expensive and difficult to display...  4"/1:18 would be a wonderful standard that I wish so many other toy lines made their figures in...

Lord of the Rings 1:18 would be great if you ask me.

Might I reinforce this...

WRITE to Hasbro.  Pen & Paper, or print it out, but send a letter to them ASAP.  I plan to this week...  Let them know your opinions...

I think the whole JMP debacle is insulting that they think this would have gone over well with the collecting community.  

I'm curious also, who is going to save theirs now?  I have a TF Vader, a Sacul, and an R2-D2...  Why should I spend them?  I may hold them still...  I wish others would as well, and boycot this most assenine of maneuvers by the big H.  Getting on Hasbro, and not acknowledging these auctions would be a nice way to send a strong message  to them that if they have their finger on any pulse, it's that of a corpse, and not this collecting community.

I find the Jedi Points deal to be disturbing...  My opinion is known.  It's an answer for a financially dying franchise really.  Check the cutbacks to product in a non-movie year...  Wal-Mart is NOT gonna carry Clone Wars product...  These are signs of the Star Wars Toy apocolyps...  Retail interest is low because retail sales were poor.  

Some of the new product is intriguing, and some of the accompanying pictures were great I think, but a lot of this smacks of "too little too late", and the Jedi Points deal is downright offensive to many.

Why release JMP's on Canadian and European packaging if you're going to exclude them immediately?  Not that the idea is good to begin with.

Not worth the wait...

That's the best way to describe this debacle with the Jedi Master Points.

Offer an exclusive figure...  A 3.75", never before made, mail-away promo...  Do something civil for your consumers instead of this.

I have a lot of JMP's to use on an auction, but I could've given a rat's behind about their idea...  I have Toy Fair Vader...  I have Silver R2...  I have Jorg Sacul.

What this boils down to is Hasbro didn't want to do much for this pomotion...  They realize we are getting impatient on using these and that they needed to do something that would remedy the situation with the points, but not cost them anything because the franchise is failing.

So what's the answer?  Oh we'll auction off crap for them...  

It's insulting really, and they should've done something that let everyone get something they didn't have...  I'm sorry, but after the years of "Don't throw those away, you'll need them!" rhetoric, this answer they've given is unacceptable.

Maybe had this been 1998, we'd have gotten some new figure, but alas it's for not...  I miss the days of Muftak/Kabe, Spirit of Ben Kenobi, or Bo'Omar Monks...  Where have those days gone?  

Bad bad bad idea...  

Here's one...  Why not just make the bonus pit droids in a baggie...  So many points gets you a set.  I'd have been happy personally, wouldn't you have?  Or a grey jumpsuited Imperial Officer (just redeco the POTJ one in grey instead of black)?  I'd have gone for that.  Hell, I'd have used every point I have on that.

Nah, too simple, logical, and too giving to the fans I guess.

They've devised a plan where they think many people will use their points up wastefully, and those who don't win will just be SOL on the situation and may as well chuck those JMP's in as packing material the next time they're shipping a Star Wars figure to a friend who can't find diddly squat in his area.