TRU "Disturbance at Lars Homestead" Battle Pack

[Darth_Anton]

This makes me really glad I stopped caring about variants.

[JACKOFTRADZE]

FYI - I saw this item on clearance today for $39.99. So for all of you who waited now may be a good time to buy. The TRU by me had 5 in stock.

I am considering getting another to get the plain egg white version, I like that one better than the streaky one I have.

[iFett]

Well it's about time - I still feel raped even though I got mine for $5 off.  I wonder why TRU is finally clearancing out exclusives like this and the B-Wing. 

I wasn't around for the great clearances of POTF, but I remember scoring the Royal Starship for $50 back in the day.

[Jayson]

I wonder why TRU is finally clearancing out exclusives like this and the B-Wing.  

Probably cause they keep reconfiguring the shelves in that aisle to allow for the extra Star Trek and Terminator **** and they have to constantly look at those overpriced POS. Maybe they'll finish off the discount trifecta and mark down those Wampa ARCs one of these days.

[CHEWIE]

If they mark this sucker down more, I think I might get a second one. 

[JediJman]

Wait, it's on clearance for $40?  That's a tremendous bargain.  In an unrelated story, it apparently takes an average of seven years for TRU to sell thru their clearance merchandise.

[Jesse James]

I may consider it at $40 but I probably will wait.  I really want the dome, but $40...  eh.

I'm trying to hash it out financially, and so I figure $5 for the vaporator and $5 for the Sandtrooper...  I think Beru and Owen are worth about $0 combined.  that's not fair to Beru's blue milk container, but I have to stick by my guns I think.

So that would be $30 for a plastic dome...  And $10 for a figure with a vaporator which really should only be $7, but I can be gracious and say at least it's an army builder with a vaporator.

Anyway, if it drops $10 more I think I'll get one.  I could pay $20 for the dome and be somewhat happy about it.

You know what's funny though?  21st Cent. Toys got their start at TRU and they had "playsets" out years ago.  They're gorgeous, and really they're works of art.  Anyway, they too went on clearance, and I paid $5 for about 8 Fountain Playsets one day ($5 a piece that is).  I sold most of them off but kept a few for me, and the figures they came with which were, at the time, really good basic infantry grunts.

Anyway, I got this glorious fountain with a cobblestone street circle base for it, and a partially destroyed statue on top of it (comprised of about 4 or 5 total pieces), and painted amazingly well/detailed, and it was $5!  This thing is insanely cool and even works for Naboo dioramas actually.  Their bigger sets were hard to find on sale and sold through fairly well even at full price ($40 I believe), but their mid-range set of a partially destroyed brick building, I managed to get for $20 or so, and again worth every red cent. 

This dome, while nice and accurate seeming, is not on par with those sets, not by a longshot.

[Jeff]

I figure $5 for the vaporator and $5 for the Sandtrooper...  I think Beru and Owen are worth about $0 combined.  that's not fair to Beru's blue milk container, but I have to stick by my guns I think.

So that would be $30 for a plastic dome...  

You forgot one...

$15 - Sandtrooper, Vaporator, and Womp Rat; that leaves just $25 for the Hut. 

[Brian]

I might consider this set at $40 as well, but I'd feel better at around $30.  I'd really like the dome, and the Sandtrooper, vaporator and Womp Rat are nice bonuses as well.  I don't have either of the original Lars figures, so I guess that would help the "value" for me, but I'd rather get new versions of those figures some day.

[JACKOFTRADZE]

I supported this set from day one because I would like to see more of them. Was the price great not really, we the set mind blowing, not really however it is a nice addition to the line. The Hutt & Womprat made it worth it to me. Hopefully sales were decent enough on this to warrant another. Same goes for the Sarlacc set, the Sarlacc itself is really a great piece.

I know a lot of collectors were not overly impressed but I still feel it was better than nothing. We need to look at the bigger picture as these sets were toe dips into environments. If they were poor sellers they may not venture into developing others. It usually takes a few trys to get it right. I am open to more of these.

Here are some backdrops that would be very nice to have:
Bespin Freeze Chamber
DS2 Throne Room
Trash Compacter room
Detention Block

There is a lot of potential for more sets. I am going to buy another Lars set, I want more of these.

[Jesse James]

Yeah I forgot the Wompie, but I'm gonna count him as an accessory to go with the Vaporator as he's one solid piece of PVC.  I'm surprised nobody's casted and sold that thing yet.  If it had movable legs I might be more lenient there.

While I'd love more environment pieces like this, or the Sarlacc, I cannot justify the price.  It's just too much money for too little "toy".  If there were more to it, perhaps the price would've been ok to me, but right now I think Hasbro's dangerously on the edge of becoming simply too expensive.

A lot of talk about the Force Cast interview with Darryl DePriest is going on, and a lot of talk about price hikes weren't brought up much at all, or were simply glossed over.  There was some indication that "well CW and Legends is selling", but CW and Legends aren't necessarilly geared at collectors.  Parents buy and always will...  I think their cost threshold is just naturally higher.  Adults will bail on certain aspects of the line if it gets to be too much though, and I think we're seeing some of that now with some of these items like the Homestead and Sarlacc.  I'm kind of curious to see if the Rancor sits or not actually.  The TFU one's not a fair gauge I think since it was obscure and had no real media tie-in, but the ROTJ one, if it sits, could be a sign that people are not digging the price of things.

Sometimes I don't think Hasbro takes into account the money spent looking for things, etc.  We have our overhead too.  Everything costs a little more, but I know this hobby costs a LOT more than it did just a few years ago. 

I'm not looking for a trail of people who want to argue why things cost what they do either, it is what it is, but I do think it's a reason that the Lars Homestead and Sarlacc were dismal sellers, and to me that's not Hasbro's fault then if they honestly could not get those two items out for cheaper than their retail prices.  If that wasn't possible, then I simply feel they're ideas best left shelved then.  They were tried, they failed, and if they can't be done cheaper then that's ok.  Move on and forget the idea.

[JACKOFTRADZE]

I'm not looking for a trail of people who want to argue why things cost what they do either, it is what it is, but I do think it's a reason that the Lars Homestead and Sarlacc were dismal sellers, and to me that's not Hasbro's fault then if they honestly could not get those two items out for cheaper than their retail prices.  If that wasn't possible, then I simply feel they're ideas best left shelved then.  They were tried, they failed, and if they can't be done cheaper then that's ok.  Move on and forget the idea.

Superb post and very fair. I do have to respectfully disagree on the last part, I think smarter designs can make a huge difference (It also did not help both being retailer exclusives that drives the price because volume is not as high). I rather have something than nothing, I think they can do a superb Cantina in this format, surely everyone here would plunker down for the bar. That would have been a better choice to produce in my opinion. They could set it up somewhat like the old school set with more details. # Flat walls (x2 Side Walls and the floor). They could have even sold it in two halves and use common tooling to reconfigure the L/R sides. They could have also including some existing stuff Braniac's Table and the Bar sections. We could have got the distiller that way. Each set would only come with one figure to put the cost towards the set. This could have been a great way to get the Tonnika sisters with 1 in each set. Tell me what collector would not buy that?

I am a Director of Design at a Toy company and I can relate to cost challenges, I am glad you were understanding of that. Most collectors are not. I would rather pay $75 for a killer set than $50 for an ok-mediocre one, but that's me. I am bored of vehicles and want more environments so I hate to see Hasbro not attempt this again.

Hopefully Sideshows current attempt is successful so they or Hasbro attempts the format in 1:18th scale.

[JediJman]

I'm curious to know if anyone would be complaining about the price point if the set included new figures instead of repacks.  The Lars home and 3-4 new figures at $45ish honestly doesn't feel that far off the mark.  Even kitbashed figs in this set would make it more viable in my opinion.  Or if we saw the base, an accessory, and the womp rat for the price of a normal battle pack at $20-$25, that feels far more reasonable as well.  I'm not sure if these options are just too costly for Hasbro, but I would have picked up the set with either of the above options.

[Jesse James]

I'm curious to know if anyone would be complaining about the price point if the set included new figures instead of repacks.

I for one wouldn't have complained quite as much.  I haven't bought the set though so I'm not complaining at all about much of anything but price.

Say for instance they took some random fairly generic female body, decently articulated, and added a new torso/head to it and a softgoods skirt...  Or even if they just updated the arms/legs of the current Beru.  I'd be ok with that as an improved figure of Beru...  Say they took Owen and used some Jedi parts + maybe a new torso/headsculpt, and a softgoods coat?  I'm down for that too... 

If the set included 4 new to semi-new figures, the price starts to change a LOT in my eyes, but you're also paying for the figures now and not feeling bad about it.  That Beru and Owen were pretty shoddy figures to get, and then they throw you a bone with the Sandtrooper, however it's really not special either and I've already got 40+ of them so do I really want that? 

As far as a Cantina, Death Star or whatnot...  I'd love a real neat one, and for $75 if they did a "full" Cantina (I'm talking the whole interior of it), and it interacted with things like the bar pieces and the tables and whatnot, $75 would probably be ok by me...  However I don't think Hasbro would do that for $75.  I think they'd do that for closer to $100 or more, and for that I'm not so sure...  Definitely not more though.  Thing is, for $75 (little less I guess) we're getting really a LOT less in these new "deluxe starfighter" assortments they're going to have.  The ARC Fighters, the Y-Wing...  I think those are equally poorly priced, but that's me.

[iFett]

FYI - I saw this item on clearance today for $39.99.

$39.98 here in MN - a whole penny cheaper!  Not even adverstised on clearance which I thought was pretty stupid, but hey...it's TRU.   I think I actually saw a third variant on the dome.  Not sure which one, but I saw both a clean white and a clean cream version with no wash/weathering/diff paint on the bottom of the dome.

Looks like all of the clearanced B-Wings finally sold through so that's a good thing I suppose.