I think I would be more upset about Mr. Gold if he was one of the 16 figures.  Since he's not, once I finished with the 16 regular figures for my collection, I moved on, and haven't even thought about him since.  Even so, I think Lego doing "chase figures" is setting a bad precedent, since Lego's always been about inclusion and fun, and less about collectibility (even though I know they're called "Collectible Minifigures").

The best part about being an identified "feeler" is that people have come up to me in stores before to ask if I can find them a particular figure for their kids.  Heck, a few weeks ago, these two women in TRU were shopping for birthday gifts and one of the employees asked me if I could help them find a couple.  Finally, one of my relatively useless skills pays off!

 

As I wrote in another thread (probably very off-topic, but I started out rambling about Vintage, so...), Hasbro's handling of this line has pretty much driven me out of collecting any of their properties, with the exception of Transformers, which you can occasionally find SOMETHING from.  Having to go pretty much online only on a limited collecting budget last year was the major straw that broke the camel's back, but their continual seeming self-sabotage on SW recently has just taken any and all fun out of what used to be an enjoyable part of my life.  I was spending more time and energy trying to find pieces and getting very little emotional return on my "hobby", so I just decided that, unless I see it at retail, I'm not interested. 

It's enabled me to find things that truly do bring me enjoyment (namely Lego, but also gave me time to get back into X-Men comics, and I've been catching up on the stories/books I've missed since graduate school lately), and that don't cause me to develop an ulcer because Hasbro didn't ship them, or the only place I can get them is on Ebay for 40 bucks a pop.  I really feel sorry for completists (if they're still out there), because I know better than most what a need to be complete can do to people on an emotional level, especially when you can't be complete. 

The thing that really strikes me as telling about where I'd rather put my energy has to do with this being Return of the Jedi's 30th anniversary.  That is a HUGE deal for a film to still be relevant and loved after that time period, and when asked what they planned to do to celebrate, Hasbro said they were doing nothing special.  Sure, they're rereleasing the TIE Interceptor in a vintage box, but you'd think there would at least be a wave of figures they could release to celebrate.  But no, instead we get yet another prequel wave with a few ANH figures mixed in.

Lego, on the other hand, has (in the last year) released or will release:

-Jabba's Palace with Bib Fortuna, Leia Boussh, Jabba the Hutt, Gammorrean Guard, a B'Omarr Monk, Chewbacca, Salacious Crumb, and Oola
-Desert Skiff with Luke, Boba Fett, Han, and Barada
-A-Wing Fighter with a pilot, Han, and Ackbar
-Rancor Pit with Luke, Gammy, Rancor Keeper, and the Rancor
-Jabba's Sail Barge with Ree Yees and Max Rebo (amongst others)
-UCS B-Wing Fighter
-AN EWOK VILLAGE WITH 16 MINIFIGURES
-Two planet sets (Endor and Forest Moon) with minifigures and mini-ships

Even Sideshow is doing that incredible (yet out of my price range) Darth Vader 1/6 scale doll, but Hasbro can't do anything outside of reissue a 4 year old toy in a new box at (what will likely be) a 10 dollar price hike?  I just don't get it.  The only thing that would be more bizarre would be if Hasbro did ANOTHER wave of Episode I figures in the Black Series line.  Then again, we've only seen the first two waves, so maybe they have another Qui-Gon or Daultay Dofine on the drawing board because "kids love random Neimoidians."

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go build a Lego Superman set because, you know, it's fun.

Saw what is, I'm guessing, considered wave 2 at a local Walmart today, and passed on all of them. The one figure I had definitely planned on getting was Colton (because its Bruce Willis after all), but his eyes were crossed worse than any Chewbacca I've ever seen, so I left him. I wasn't too impressed with any of the others' paint apps either, and Lady Jaye was especially sloppy. For 10 bucks a figure, I expect a lot more.

I did, however, grab the Cobra Invasion Team 3 pack, which is pretty great. Firefly is pretty much a POC-style update of the RAH figure, and the Paratrooper uses the POC Shock Trooper as a base, including most of the gear from that figure plus the parachute and harness from the first Retaliation Cobra Trooper but in black (the harness; the chute is still blue with a red Cobra logo). Storm Shadow looks like the single carded release (which I don't have, so I may be wrong) but he includes more accessories including a RAH style backpack. Very cool set, and highly recommended for fans of the POC stuff.

Hopefully some poor soul takes one for the team and reviews the new Class 2 vehicles. I really want to see how silly they look next to the normal versions without, ya know, shelling out any cash.

I actually bought the Slave I, just because Boba Fett (and Mandalorians, in general, I guess) is my character focus. And yeah, it's pretty sad on just about every level (not the least of which is that I bought it to begin with). I'll post more thoughts in that thread, but wow, is it small and undetailed and just crappy.

If the deco pictured on the box actually reflects what the toy looks like, I may end up getting this one. Curious about the price, though, since the last few big X-Wings have been in the 50 buck range and have included figures.

Speaking of the Trench Run X-Wing, what modifications were made to that mold anyway?

I see your Hasbro pessimism is still firing on all cyliders, DP. 

Would you expect anything less? 

In all seriousness, though, the last 2 years have, at least when it comes to Hasbro's action figure line, not been very fun at all for me. I just don't have the time or energy for the hunt anymore, and with prices going nowhere but up and space at a minimum, I think I've reached my relative end. I'll probably still pick up some of the 3.75" Black Series if I can find them, but my days of morning toy runs are over.

It's probably not the best basis for this, but when I think of the future of the 6" line, I can't help but look at Hasbro's distribution of Marvel Legends as an example. To this day, I have only seen about 1/3 of the figures Hasbro has done in that line (which, granted, may be partially due to me not showing up at 8 AM at Target).  Given how horrible it has been to find a SW figure past the TPM wave this past 14 months, I don't see a 6" collector line is going to get better market penetration.

Anyway, that's neither here nor there and I'm sorry for derailing the thread, but I've just been frustrated with everything Hasbro's done lately and it has felt more like a chore for me to collect. I'm not having fun, so it follows that I should just stop putting myself through the irritation, especially when, in the end scheme of things, they are just toys.

My hope is that with Hasbro apparently going with the "budget" approach as it relates to Movie Heroes (5 POA), they'll finally admit that the Vintage/Black Series/whatever line is a collector-focused line and offer a figure assortment that respects that fact. I'm talking super-articulation as the bare minimum with no corners being cut on deco and no sacrifice of film authenticity for stupid pack-ins and gimmicks.

We already know we aren't getting BAD pieces so I'm hoping they realize anything other than a stand (and we all have all we need of those at this point) as a pack-in is a waste. Use whatever budget for those on including lightsaber hilts that attach to belts, or for a frigging leg strap for the holster. Lack of holster aside, the Vintage RFT is a perfect example of great accessories packed in to add value, so more of that where they can do it would be great.

And if they're going for a true collector-focused line, and with the main characters being well-represented in the budget line for kids, don't sacrifice spaces in the Black Series to repack Obi-Wan and Anakin and X-Wing Luke for the millionth time. If you do a main character in the Black Series, make it a version that isn't identical, costume-wise to another figure (like 3 identical Obi-Wans in 3 different assortments). Do a ROTJ-deco Boba Fett using the Evolutions body with mods as necessary, or do a cloth-lower coat Hoth Han with the hood up.

My other main hope is that they not overdo things in terms of the number of figures released. Part of the problem these last few years is there have been too many figures split across too many "waves" and 90% of them didn't show up to retail or, if they did show up, were victims of horrible case packs and only showed up once. They could cut the line to 24 totally new figures for the entire year (4 waves of 6 figures) and release an assortment every 3 months, with the first release being a case of 12 figures (2 of each new figure) and, in the off months, release a revision case with the more popular figures as a fill-in assortment. No short packs, no chase figures (which is my biggest fear with the 6" line), and for God's sake, no Phantom Menace figures for a long time.

Like I said, each wave would have 6 brand new figures which would encompass five of the six films and, as available, realistic versions of CW characters. I won't go into personal wish lists but I think we could (mostly) all agree that realistic versions of animated Jedi who appeared in the films (Mace, Fisto, Koon) with forearm armor isn't going to be interesting. Do stuff like Bo-Katan, Pong Krell, Hondo Ohnaka, Duchess Satine, Savage Opress, or even Rex and Wolffe instead of just blowing a spot on "Saesee Tiin in Leg Armor".

My biggest hope is that, whatever they do, people are able to actually find it. If Hasbro doesn't get their **** together this fall, especially after the complete cluster**** of the last 3 years, a lot of the people who have been sitting on the fence and giving the big H another chance are going to jump ship completely.

Count me among those who have yet to receive their Jocasta, although to be quite honest, I hadn't really been paying attention lately and had pretty much forgotten about her.  I don't know if that's more due to just a general apathy toward Hasbro stuff recently, or because there hadn't been any movement from BT, but I did order one, so hopefully they'll actually send it to me, sooner or later.