Author Topic: Battle of Hoth Wave  (Read 59680 times)

Offline Jesse James

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Re: Battle of Hoth Wave
« Reply #240 on: January 20, 2006, 05:44 AM »
I'd generally agree Brent, however the "final 12" were shipping for MONTHS supposedly, it's just that Hasbro + monkeys running retail didn't order NEAR enough for the holiday season.

Just from my own experiences, retail was dead the day after Thanksgiving down here.  I went out Black Friday, and K-Mart was the only store that had anything substantial on the pegs.  They were cleaned out that same day due to a bogo sale putting figures at $3.50 each basically.  They had final 12 at most stores if you got out early enough, so that was cool, but I went out and then hit other retailers...  That same day I noticed that 2 Targets and a few Wal-Mart stores had few or NO figures on the pegs.  I thought there'd be restock since there was basically a month leading to the holidays, but no luck.  Retail just didn't order ****.

Hasbro either didn't produce nearly enough, or retail didn't order **** grossly misjudiging demand, or a combination of the two things.

If the final wave didn't come out till like December then I'd think they fell prey to final wave syndrome, but man there were MONTHS of those things supposedly shipping but they just never shipped heavily at all.  I found Cat Miin and Passel like in October or earlier, but even then there wasn't a lot on the pegs.  They were never full at most retailers.

Very weird this year...  And we went a long time with literally nothing on the pegs at a lot of stores.  Even now, I see (at most) 8 figures.  I saw 8 tonight of Carkoon Wave new figures...  That's it.  Someone's droppin' the ball right now...  Not to mention that, ******* up the holidays as they did, undoubtebly cost them "long-term" collectors.  I'm sure kids who didn't get anyting X-Mas morning gladly moved onto other toys more quickly than they would have if Hasbro had actually had **** out there.
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Offline Xander

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Re: Battle of Hoth Wave
« Reply #241 on: January 20, 2006, 08:10 AM »
If the final wave didn't come out till like December then I'd think they fell prey to final wave syndrome, but man there were MONTHS of those things supposedly shipping but they just never shipped heavily at all.  I found Cat Miin and Passel like in October or earlier, but even then there wasn't a lot on the pegs.  They were never full at most retailers.

I always see it as the final wave syndrome too.  It may not be a question of timing, a la Hasbro shipping out the last wave by a deadline, but it could just be a production thing. As in, the factory could be pounding out the last wave by a deadline, and just producing less.

This is all speculation on my part, but maybe the production schedule of these figures don't follow the waves precisely. They could be set up for injecting certain molds, painting, etc, then switch, maybe a few figures at a time to the next scheduled figures. Its possible they could backtrack some, i.e., go back and produce a ton more Vaders for shipping those out a case at a time. Once the production schedule winds down, the initial figures could have more production numbers due to backtracking or better scheduling, while the last ones on the schedule are made and that's pretty much it.  Couple that with Hasbro ending certain shipments to warehouses by a deadline, then, we could just be seeing less of the final waves.

Seems like Saga and OTC were the same.  There's so much we don't know about the toy production, so I'm just wondering out loud about it.

Offline TheBlackDog65

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Re: Battle of Hoth Wave
« Reply #242 on: January 20, 2006, 12:35 PM »
I have a different take on the final 12 and the final in any wave. First, I think it depends on geographic area on how many you find. Some areas seem always able to have product, while others struggle to find product. Second, it depends on one's ability to hunt at the most appropriate time. In October, I found plenty of the final 12. This is because I now teach and I have off track time during the year so I can hunt at opening at Target and hit Walmarts when cases are brought out at night. Thus I found every figure in the final 12 mutiple times, and bought them for either myself, or for other local collectors. That brings me to the third point. Locally here in SLC, we have a forum where we can post our wants or we can PM each other with wants. So, lets say that I found 20 Tactical Ops over a 3 week period, and I helped 6 collectors and myself to those 20 troops (so roughly 3 each) that wiped out 5 cases of the Tactical Ops. Thus anyone who came into that store or stores after me, would never find the final 12. Having said that I guess the fifth is that I know once I had reached the amount I wanted, I quit hunting, though product was still showing up. And I KNOW that other collectors who are not on the local forum or who are not active on our forum, hunt, and find product for themselves and others, which reduce merchandise since they hunt at case time and at opening. The last point is that though we saw and received product here in Utah, it was usually only one or two cases at a time (except for after Thanksgiving; Kmart had em in abudnance the day after, and one Walmart put out 8 cases in one day of just the Tactical Ops with the Jedi repacks). So with limited product out, and people hunting at night and at opening, and with collectors helping other collectors out, and with other hunters out there who are either collecting for themselves or for others as well, the amount of product left for those who do not maximize or cannot maximize the time of the hunt becomes extremely limited, if available at all. Usually only R4 was left by the end of the cases, and those didn't last long either.
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Offline CHEWIE

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Re: Battle of Hoth Wave
« Reply #243 on: January 21, 2006, 06:47 PM »
Now that I've got all of the figures from this wave, I have to express how awesome the AT-AT driver is... it might be the best figure we'll get all year in the basic line.  To me, it's VOTC/Evolutions quality.  Simply a kickass figure and has really gotten me excited about the OT army builders again.

For the rest of the wave, good figures on the new ones, the only turd I think is Rieken.  Simply not a good repack choice... instead I would think a Luke or Han would have been a better rehash, or even a new Snowspeeder pilot.  But if that were the case, I think the would needed to have eliminated another figure from the wave, either Vader or R2D2.

 :P

Offline Clone Hunter

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Re: Battle of Hoth Wave
« Reply #244 on: January 21, 2006, 09:18 PM »
Now that I've got all of the figures from this wave, I have to express how awesome the AT-AT driver is... it might be the best figure we'll get all year in the basic line.  To me, it's VOTC/Evolutions quality.  Simply a kickass figure and has really gotten me excited about the OT army builders again.

For the rest of the wave, good figures on the new ones, the only turd I think is Rieken.  Simply not a good repack choice... instead I would think a Luke or Han would have been a better rehash, or even a new Snowspeeder pilot.  But if that were the case, I think the would needed to have eliminated another figure from the wave, either Vader or R2D2.

 :P

No way. This is the best R2 that I have ever seen, especially with the goodies he comes with. Definitely sub on Vader. After ROTS, I am all Vader'd out.
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Offline CHEWIE

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Re: Battle of Hoth Wave
« Reply #245 on: January 21, 2006, 10:30 PM »
Well, that's why I said Vader or R2D2.   ;)

The R2 is a very nice figure, but I personally like the SAGA Sail Barge version better.  These accessories are really nice too, but they're not actually new ones, due to them already being packed in with the SAGA Dagobah X-Wing.  Just repainted.  Great figure though, I agree.

 :P

Offline Daigo-Bah

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Re: Battle of Hoth Wave
« Reply #246 on: January 21, 2006, 10:35 PM »
With a little time spent with Veers, I have to rescind some of my minor disappointment.  He really is rather versatile after all, but I do think he looks best with armor on.  I didn't realize however that his boots are articulated and can be swivelled outwards; makes his standing poses look better.  I'd have liked a little more effort to coordinate Veers and Ozzel color, uniform detail, and size, but they do look good standing together despite the differences.
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Offline CHEWIE

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Re: Battle of Hoth Wave
« Reply #247 on: January 21, 2006, 10:54 PM »
I think it's a prety good figure too.  I just am a bit dismayed at the color/uniform detail differences we are still getting with the Imperial officers (Veers/Ozzel/ROTS Tarkin).  I guess that's why we customize.   ;)

 :P

Offline Clone Hunter

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Re: Battle of Hoth Wave
« Reply #248 on: January 21, 2006, 11:54 PM »
I think it's a prety good figure too.  I just am a bit dismayed at the color/uniform detail differences we are still getting with the Imperial officers (Veers/Ozzel/ROTS Tarkin).  I guess that's why we customize.   ;)

 :P

I am new to SW collecting. I apologize about not knowing about the X-wing repack parts.

Also, are Ozzel and Tarkins colors close? It could be the difference between Imperial Army and Imperial Navy? Veers and the AT-ST drivers all use grey uniforms, while it seems all command Navy use olive drab. Kinda a reversal of reality? Something to ponder....
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Offline CHEWIE

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Re: Battle of Hoth Wave
« Reply #249 on: January 22, 2006, 12:12 AM »
There's no reason at all to apologize for anything.   ;)

I think you are onto something about the color of the uniforms. I'd have to watch the DVD's again to really get a better mental picture, but from the figures, my Tarkins are more of a darker brownish tint.

 :P

Offline Ook

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Re: Battle of Hoth Wave
« Reply #250 on: January 22, 2006, 05:12 PM »
I had no idea these Artoo accessories were previously released. But it makes perfect sense that they came with a Dagobah product. That's the first thing I thought of when I saw them, that they looked like Luke's camp supplies. I immediately stuck them next to OTC Dagobah Luke and Yoda. They're the only reason I got suckered into this Artoo fig. AOTC Threepio's trunk looks great as a Dagobah accessories, too.

Offline Jesse James

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Re: Battle of Hoth Wave
« Reply #251 on: January 23, 2006, 01:48 AM »
Imperial uniform colors varied some by the films, but in general the Tarkin outfit was a LOT greyer than the films will lead you to believe (having seen recent photos of it), and the ESB Imperial officer uniforms aren't too different in color from Tarkin's or Motti's in ANH.  Ozzel and Veers should match perfectly (as should Piett) however none of the 3 seem to.  Veers is the closest to perfect that I've seen...  Motti's not too bad.

All the other Imperial Officers are off to some degree.  Ozzel's the worst of the lot in uniform color.
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Offline Matt

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Re: Battle of Hoth Wave
« Reply #252 on: January 24, 2006, 11:19 PM »
Just caught this at RS:

Different Imperial Officers

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Offline Reid

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Re: Battle of Hoth Wave
« Reply #253 on: January 27, 2006, 05:53 PM »
I finally saw this wave today, but only the remnants of it: two Derlins. Still, it's nice to know it's hit my area, and the figures I want out of this wave (Veers and Droid 2-Pack) should be easier to find once this wave ships a couple more times.

Offline speedermike

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Re: Battle of Hoth Wave
« Reply #254 on: January 27, 2006, 08:33 PM »
About the Imperial uniform colors...I wouldn't put ROTS Tarkin in the same catagory.  Story wise, he appears 20 years before ANH.  If the Empire changed the color of the uniforms over that time, I wouldn't be surprised.
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