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Messages - Herbert_Ackermans

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61
Revenge of the Sith / Re: What Hasbro really wants to do...
« on: April 25, 2005, 02:50 PM »
I think you can't compare 70's-80's Kenner toys to what Hasbro is doing now.

The market has changed a whole lot since then, just about any movie has it's toyline it seems.

Also, figure-lines of current times are huge compared to what the whole OT produced between 78 and 85, only 92 figures total.

Would we be satisfied with an AT-TE in the quality like the AT-AT? I think not. Compare KEnner Slave-1 to Hasbro's AOTC Slave-1, that is a world of difference, with regards to construction, detail, quality etc. etc. etc.

All that has to be taken into the picture as well.

Also, back in the good old days everything was released without there being any exclusives. Today, anything interesting becomes an exclusive. Reason, I don't get it. If you produce an expensive toy, I'd try to get it marketed as widely as possible.

Another thing. Hasbro seems to be seeing the world as the US and nothing much beyond that.

Again, in the 78-86 era, over here in the Netherlands, a lot of the line was readily available in the mainstream shops.

TPM was a big disaster here, AOTC consequently had only some 6 figures, the speeders, Reek and that was it.

Worldwide distribution has also changed significantly since the Kenner days.

All that makes the choice for the AT-TE rather difficult. I remember reading that the SW-line didn't make a lot of money for Hasbro, don't know if that still holds true, but it isn't a cash-cow like apparently GI-Joe is.

Would you pay $90 for an AT-TE? I think the answer is yes. Will the average public pay $90 for an AT-TE? Very different ballgame, and I think the answer is no.

Remember, after this movie... what will come next? How long will an AT-TE toy last? If you have kids, how will you feel if that expensive AT-TE is standing there, collecting dust in the corner of the attic while your kid is yelling for yet another piece of movie-mania toys?

That I think is why Hasbro is reluctant to release/produce the AT-TE. We are not the main target audience, kids are, and even more precisely, parents willing to buy it.

And these days, parents see toylines come and go liek there's no tomorrow.

62
Modern Classifieds / VOTC Lando for sale MOMC
« on: April 20, 2005, 10:11 AM »
I have a VOTC MOMC Lando Calrissian for sale.

Anyone interested, please PM or mail me.

63
Vintage Kenner / Re: Vintage ebaY auction wins!
« on: April 19, 2005, 04:52 PM »
Just won a loose Jedi Luke with a blue sabre for 1.65 pound.

Also got this Prune Face:

64
The Prequel Trilogy / Re: ROTS Picture Thread
« on: April 19, 2005, 04:43 PM »
Those Anakin shots are brutal, how the hell does he survive?

65
The Prequel Trilogy / German TV Footage
« on: April 19, 2005, 03:43 AM »
Head over here for 2 clips of German TV Footage.

The first has Grievous walking around, and it is weird. Looks like he is modeled after a vulture, as they talk about how he came about.

The second focuses on the opening space battle.

66
The Prequel Trilogy / Re: ROTS Picture Thread
« on: April 16, 2005, 03:21 PM »
Nah, some baron called Paranoid...sorry.... Papanoida.

67
The Prequel Trilogy / Re: ROTS Picture Thread
« on: April 16, 2005, 03:40 AM »
So that's what all that CGI was for, to find a way to cover-up GL's chins on film! ;D

Am I the only way who thinks Felucia is more fitting in Star Trek than Star Wars?

And that is the old ST.

It's something about all those pretty colors...

68
Revenge of the Sith / Blue and Purple
« on: April 15, 2005, 02:11 PM »
Concerning the blue and purple cardbacks, are those tied to specific figures, or can any figure be found with either a blue or purple background?

69
Revenge of the Sith / Re: ROTS Recent Purchases
« on: April 15, 2005, 04:00 AM »
So far found only these in the Netherlands:
Darth Vader (Lightsaber attack!)
Yoda (Firing Cannon!)
Obi-Wan Kenobi (Slashing Attack!)
Anakin Skywalker (Lightsaber Attack!)
Clone Trooper (Quick-Draw Attack!)
Emperor Palpatine (Firing Force Lightning!)
Mace Windu (Force Combat!)

There were also the lightsabres but I pass on those.

It's great to live here... ;)

70
The Original Trilogy / Re: Why have a 2nd Death Star in ROTJ?
« on: April 14, 2005, 12:40 PM »
The second Death Star was still under completion, maybe that's why those "holes" weren't covered up yet... they needed to be open to allow for maintenance/construction vehicles to enter it.

That is possible, however, the passageway they flew through towards the central core looked pretty complete. But it is possible, very possible.

As for the second one getting completed quicker - to me it was because they were in a bigger rush to get it done than they were with the first one.  I really don't think there's much more to it that that.

 :P

Well, it teeters on where you put the start of contruction on the DS-2. If you believe that the 2nd was started about the same time as the 1st, than the Empire wasn't in that big a rush.

If you take that it was started after ANH, or even post TESB, than yes, construction must have been 10 times as fast as the first one.

71
The Original Trilogy / Re: Why have a 2nd Death Star in ROTJ?
« on: April 14, 2005, 11:34 AM »
About that first DS taking longer to build, and the second faster due to the learning curve.

Fact is, a DS is not some kind of exotic technology, far from it. The tech inside the DS is virtually the same aboard an ISD, or a Tie, or even, a blaster.

It's just immensly bigger. So, what would be the time-consuming factor is getting the parts ready, shipped out and assembled. According to AOTC, the design was ready when Poggle gave it to Dooku.

Also, the DS-2 is larger than the DS-1, probably to house an upgraded faster recharging central core to power the gun.

A few points about refining raw materials, that in the age and sophistication of SW, I don't see how they can make quantum leaps in that area in 20 years.

That aside, there's also the fact that with certain projects, you just can't build faster. I doubt you can shave of 50% construction time of a DS, or even 25%.

Due to it's complexity and grand scale, it will consume large amounts of time.

And you can't cut on that.

The fact the DS-2 was in an unfinished state on the outside seems to indicate that a decision was made to focus on it's large weapon system, probably dispensing with the surface defenses as the whole station would be protected by the Endor-shield.

Dropping the surface defenses, if that was done, creates room to divert all the effort used in that to other aspects of the station.

If time was won, it would probably be there.

And, to burst the bubble of "Did the Empire learn from the first DS"...

Remember, that first DS had a venthole where a proton-torpedo could be dropped in.

The second DS had a hole on it's surface large enough for the Millenium Falcon... ;D

72
Watto's Junk Yard / Re: Are you where you want to be in life???
« on: April 14, 2005, 07:28 AM »
I'm nowhere near were I want to be, I'm out of work, have been for quite a while now. Finding a new one seems to get harder with every day that passes, adding more and more to the timespan that I've been unemployed.

I've got an eduction (I think the equivalent is Bachelor's degree) in Commercial Economics.

But I've still got no idea what I really want to do. They ask you this in job-interviews, and I say I want to be in account-management or project-management, but I find myself asking myself if that is what I want to do.

My Girlfriend has a parttime job, with varying workinghours. We live mostly on social benefits.

I've tried to apply for all kinds of jobs, even as simple as data-entry, but then they think I'm overqualified and I have huge salary demands and likely be gone in a few days when I find another job more suiting me. Well, hello, if the latter were the case, I wouldn't be applying for Data entry. Duh... ::)

So, where am I in life? Most looks like in a thick cloud of fog.

73
The Prequel Trilogy / Re: ROTS Picture Thread
« on: April 13, 2005, 10:42 PM »


Looks a bit fake to me, where does this one come from?

74
The Prequel Trilogy / Re: ROTS Picture Thread
« on: April 13, 2005, 10:32 PM »
Goddamn, that Obi-Wan pic is most impressive. The sheer look of disbelief, horror, disgust and personal responsibility blasts of of his expression.

Very, very well done, Ewan.

75
The Original Trilogy / Re: Why have a 2nd Death Star in ROTJ?
« on: April 13, 2005, 09:18 PM »
History shows us that diabolical rulers seem to favour huge big expensive heavy impressive useless overdone impractical weapons over the more humble and nimble ones.

Take Germany in WW-2. It took 300,000 manhours to build a Tiger-E, where as the Russian threw together a T-34 in under 30,000. Sherman too was completed in roughly 30,000 manhours.

End of the story: 1300 Tigers versus 30,000 Shermans. I know who wins, no matter how "invincible" you make that Tiger.

Even though the Tiger-E was impractical, clumsy, technically unreliable, they designed the even bigger, heavier Tiger-B, and went overboard with the Maus, a behemoth of 250+ tons in weight, with absolutely no value on the battlefield other than a barely mobile bunker.

The Germans even drew up plans for tanks in the order of 1000 and 1500 tons, mounting battleship turrets on them boasting dual 28cm guns.

But, with the DS as a weapon, it's not that big bad gun inside that's the point, it is how much fear it can instill.

The DS wasn't something of a huge offensive weapon, it was meant to be a deterrant, don't mess with the Empire or we'll come and get medieval on your asses.

In the game Rebellion/Supremacy using a DS is perfect to submit systems to bow to your rule, playing the Empire.

But they consume huge quantities of men, time, raw materials and what else.

However, the Empire seems to have that, as the are the GALACTIC Empire, and that means, we've got it all, and we just have no clue what to do with it.

So, let's make this super-weapon, the Uber-gun.

Let's take that Maus into the picture, a massive, huge, thick armoured and heavily armed monster of a tank. It's pretty much stuck to where it stops moving, so... why don't we just drive around it, really fast?

This applies to the DS as well, even though it can travel through Hyperspace, in ANH it took quite a while to clear Yavin in order to shoot at the Rebel base, making the DS a sitting duck for most of the time.

In ROTJ, the DS seems capable to some quicker firing-rate, but still, it is effectively tied to where it is, Endor, and can't function as the terror they've constructed.

Granted, that was the Emperor's plot, but still.

The first DS being a solitary DS on paper sounds pretty impressive, but as long as it's not around, it's not a threat. As ANH demonstrated, the Rebels could move around quickly, leaving deserted bases behind like the one on Dantooine, and also, the swift evacuation of Hoth.

I don't think the Empire could toss the DS around in space as fast as the Rebels could relocate, or even, disperse.

So for a DS to be effective, it is imperative that you have more than 1. That way, you can be everywhere where there is trouble.

Think about this, you're aboard a B-17 on your way to Berlin, and this beautifull Mustang with ít's 6 browning's is escorting you. A Messerschmit appears, the Mustang speeds away in pursuit of the Messerschmit. Meanwhile, an additional 2 Messerschmits shoot down the B-17.

So, in essence, there's a lot to say in favour of the idea that a second DS was started together or some time after the first one was started.

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