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Messages - Muftak

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496
Kenner Retro Collection / Re: 3rd Party Kenner Retro-Style Toys
« on: May 28, 2019, 10:09 AM »
Yeah, I think they are a hot seller right now. Part of it is just straight up collectors chasing the nostalgia and doing what we have all been programmed to do. I think the other big part of the heat right now is the entire wave in one case with no duplicates, no chase figures. It's not an assortment of $10 figures so much as it's a $60 multipack. And then folks want multiples of the multipack, and store supplies dry up insanely fast.

Once Hasbro realized this (data from the Target website presell, I am guessing) they went back to the factory to do another run, and announced just prior to the line's "street date" that more are coming in the fall, which is probably as fast as they could get a factory turnaround. This tells me they knew the supply of the intial run was not going to hold out.

I have hopes for a wave 2, but I can't imagine it just being the "other 6" of the first 12 since all the heavy-hitters were already cherry picked. And the droids are a problem in and of themselves because Hasbro doesn't vac-metallize anymore. The selections could get interesting, I have no idea how to even formulate a guess as to where they will go.

I do expect retreads to knock out variations like small head Han, tan-hair Farmboy Luke, maybe even green-limb Chewie. My hope is we could get some retooled figures like removable helmet Vader, a Luke without the lightsaber built in, Sandtrooper, etc. And that is only working within the 6 figures already made.

I am also wary of Hasbro using the brand-new Retro figures as an upsell for larger items like they pulled off with Tarkin. It would be conceivable to get, say a Stormtrooper Han and/or Imperial Scanning Tech with a Death Star (extra points if it is a Palitoy Death Star, but I'd take a Kenner version too.) Cantina Band Member with the Creature Cantina, Sandtrooper with Dewback, Wedge or Biggs with X-Wing...they could really make a lot of interesting combos that the collectors would gobble up.

And really, it is only a matter of time before we get Retro prequel and sequel figures. I just hope they don't come to dominate the release schedule.

497
Count me in the camp that considers Star Wars an 80's line. I would even go so far as to say the structure of the Star Wars line was a huge influence on all 3 of "the big 3" as far as how their lines were developed.

(I would have to disagree with the comment that TMNT was an 80's line, though. I think the first wave of Playmates toys hit in summer of '88, and kicked off the trend of big comic book toy lines that dominated the early 90's, a harbinger for lines like X-Men and Spawn.)

498
Kenner Retro Collection / Re: 3rd Party Kenner Retro-Style Toys
« on: May 26, 2019, 05:12 PM »
Yeah, that listing had to have been faked, the picture is the custom-made one. Hasbro may be doing one, who knows, but this isn't evidence of it.

Put your money back in your pockets, everyone.  :P

499
Kenner Retro Collection / Re: 3rd Party Kenner Retro-Style Toys
« on: May 26, 2019, 12:07 PM »
I knew it looked familiar...



The custom was even on display in a Vintage Star Wars toy museum show last year, displayed as if it was a Kenner prototype, but as you can tell by the familiar "Kenner Sandtrooper" custom, it is a modern recreation:





Its creation as a custom was confirmed during the show.

Lots of great pics and a write up at this site: https://greencardback.wordpress.com/2018/10/10/star-wars-irl-2-may-the-toys-be-with-you/

500
Kenner Retro Collection / Re: 3rd Party Kenner Retro-Style Toys
« on: May 26, 2019, 11:38 AM »
The image in question...



I can't verify it, but this picture is calling to my mind a custom Bantha I've seen before that was solid fur sculpted on top of the POTF2 Bantha. The telltale was the reuse of the saddle. But for all I know, that's how modern Hasbro would do it, too.

I dunno, but it would be neat if true!

501
My 5/18 estimate got skipped over, and I was able to pick it up on Wednesday the 22nd.

Overall the most impressive part of the set (I do like it a lot) is the pricing. Fifty bucks for two TVC figures and a playset, when 3 a figure 3-pack costs $50 too? At the most, the playset portion cost me $24.

I am looking at selling the carded figures to a carded collector, since this is one of those rare instances where the packaging seems significant and will probably be rare. (If I keep them I would open them.) Selling them off will recoup a lot of the cost, I think.

As far as I'm concerned, Hasbro can scrap the TVC figure line entirely (I had a brand new Meijers store open nearby last week, and they opened the doors with a fresh case of TVC 2018 Wave 1 on the shelf. Good luck with that!) Just release figures as pack-ins with newly sculpted playsets and vehicles from here on out!

502
Kenner Retro Collection / Re: 2019 Kenner Retro Collection
« on: May 25, 2019, 11:46 AM »
I was able to find the four figures I wanted (Leia, Big Head, and 2 Stormies) in the wild last week, and I had a real good laugh at the failed accessory compatibility. Oh, the hubris of Hasbro, thinking they could just sleepwalk through these "primitive" designs! Leia does a little better than the boys with her gun thanks to the pincer-hand design, but if her arm points down it is still a 50/50 gamble if she will hold on to the gun for any period of time.

I guess these were truly meant to stay in the package.

Tarkin, meanwhile, is just fine.

503
I got charged, and it says it will be ready for store pick-up today after 6PM, but I'm still in "preparing order" limbo... :-[

504
Kenner Retro Collection / Re: 2019 Kenner Retro Collection
« on: May 14, 2019, 03:29 PM »
The reports circulating today about a Father’s Day display with all 4 exclusives  in the men’s clothing section are accurate. I got my set of Retro figures today in such a section and saw the Tarkin, TVC, and TBS sets as well. Also some non-SW video games as well.

I can corroborate this sighting...though the display I encountered had empty spots where all the Star Wars stuff was supposed to be.

Is it more odd that a "Father's Day" display is filled with Star Wars toys, or that the fathers wiped it out in one day before such items could be purchased as presents for them?

505
Watto's Junk Yard / Re: The Avengers (SPOILERS)
« on: May 14, 2019, 03:12 PM »
 ;D This is why time travel stuff is fun!

I agree that Cap travelling to the past to have the chance to "live his life" ought to create a divergent timeline, since there's no other way to account for there always being 2 Steves somewhere from when he arrives until he leaves to put the Stones back where they came from.

...But...

It is possible the MCU we have seen play out throughout all the movies is a "divergent timeline" already. That is, there was a prior timeline we didn't see where Peggy didn't get married, and Cap just didn't show up after taking the Stones away. When post-Endgame Steve showed up in the 1940's, it created the MCU timeline that we saw play out. He was always there in the past, he was just never called out to the viewer. In that sense, he has to go back and live his life to make sure the timeline remains the way we saw it originally.

The other interesting time artifact out there is that when 2014 Thanos jumps into the Endgame timeline and is killed, it creates another "divergent timeline" where he disappeared one day and thus never gathered the Stones or did the Snap (that universe will also never have a Guardians of the Galaxy team, since Gamora disappeared too.) But that timeline will have a Black Widow that survives, because she will never need to go back and sacrifice herself to get the Soul Stone (If we keep looking at it, we even see that our Black Widow died in that Thanos-less timeline, presumably minutes before Cap showed up to return the Soul Stone to Red Skull...that would be an interesting scene, huh?)

I haven't followed any of the comics since the 90's, but it seemed at the time, especially in books like "Quasar," the Multiverse was becoming a little too well-traveled and mapped out, so I'm not surprised they tried to find a way to simplify things.

506
Kenner Retro Collection / Re: 2019 Kenner Retro Collection
« on: May 14, 2019, 04:30 AM »
I have been keeping my eye on these in passing, and Target will have to make it easy for me if they want the sale. Honestly I only see myself getting Leia (she and Ben are the 2 figures from the original 12 I don't have) and a couple stormtroopers...maybe good old Big Head Han, too, since right now I have the Han from the '95 4-pack filling the spot. I hated Big Head as a kid, hated having to get him as a replacement for my "real" Han once the one I got in '78 went all loose and couldn't stand anymore. But hate has turned to nostalgia. I miss hating him to his big ugly face.

I was ready to buy those yesterday via the website which kept promising the sold out preorders would become active listings on May 12th...but instead they just turned into plain old "sold out." >:(

Tarkin was a whole different story, I wasn't sure how easy he would be to find so that was a priority. Now I feel like if I see Leia in the store or show up online I will get her. And once I do, I fear it will drive me to finally tracking down a decent Ben to finish up a set of the 12 to display permanently.

507
Watto's Junk Yard / Re: The Avengers (SPOILERS)
« on: May 13, 2019, 05:22 PM »
Speaking of which, if changes in the past cause divergent realities, then how does old cap get back to the Avengers at the end of Endgame?  Wouldn't that have just created a divergent reality with an old cap?  I feel like I need to watch Endgame again and take notes on what they said about how the changes in time/realities actually work.

When he stayed with Peggy, that created a divergent reality...but he still had the suit and Pym particles to return to the original reality.

But if he had returned via the suit, it would have been to the spot they were waiting for him at. My take was that Cap had always been Peggy's mystery husband, and that was always a part of the standard MCU timeline, so nothing diverged, he just lived an overlapping life.

508
Kenner Retro Collection / Re: 2019 Kenner Retro Collection
« on: May 13, 2019, 12:37 PM »
I managed to score a set yesterday. Very surreal. I feel like I'm 8 years old again.

Just curious, did you have to ask for them to be brought out, or were they on the floor? I keep hearing stories that they are going to be in a special shipper display, but haven't heard of anyone actually finding them there.

509
Star Wars Dioramas and Displays / Re: Cardboard Galaxy
« on: May 9, 2019, 01:52 PM »
I have some new items/promotions going on that I figured I could shamelessly plug here...feel free to PM me if you are interested in any of this stuff!

With Hasbro having finished up the Black Series versions of all the Bounty Hunters I made a display stand for them (and Piett or Veers and whatever other Imperials you want to include on the bottom level...)





It is a limited edition of 80 pieces. $25 shipped in the US. I am currently working through orders on this one.

Last weekend I listed a new "Retro"-inspired display for May the 4th. I call it the "Blockade Runner Capture" Playset:







(I really hope the Retro collection gets around to making a 1978-version of the Rebel Fleet Trooper, he'll look perfect in there!)

It is also a limited edition piece--I am only making 42 before retiring the design, and $25 shipped in the US as well.

And then I have started doing custom-fit, large-format printed backdrops for bookcases and other display spaces. The sizes on these are incredible...







Here's one displayed in the intended space by the customer:



Here's the full Facebook album of what I've made so far in this size.
(No set prices on these, as they are designed to be sized to the customer's needs. Let me know if you're interested and we can figure something out.)

As always thanks for looking! I still get a lot of joy out of this work!

510
Celebrated May the 4th last night by watching "Star Wars" (you know the one) with my boys, and then playing "Escape the Death Star" with my oldest after his brother went to bed.

Big thumbs up on the gameplay from the kid. After my Han/Chewie piece got dragged back to the Trash Compactor (from the space just in front of the Millennium Falcon) he couldn't stop laughing and finally said: "This is the best board game I have ever played!"

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