Author Topic: TVC will fail...  (Read 21282 times)

Offline jono

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Re: TVC will fail...
« Reply #30 on: October 2, 2010, 05:08 PM »
Yeah a funky alien would have been cool-but what is really left?


EDIT-just thought Gator Head,Toonbuck or Seboca would do nicely.
« Last Edit: October 2, 2010, 05:57 PM by jono »

Offline Greedo The Green Menace

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Re: TVC will fail...
« Reply #31 on: October 14, 2010, 05:42 AM »
I wonder if the lack of really interesting characters left from some movies is the reason they're moving away from the movie themed waves going forward. Kind of a shame they're not hitting out one last ANH themed wave though. I bet they could really blow the collector community away with that one. Throw in a new Fleet Trooper, Tarkin, Bom Vimdin, Evazan and Ponda and a few other highly requested figures. Repack the Resurgance Luke, and update Leia and you've got a pretty exciting group a la ROTJ wave.
« Last Edit: October 14, 2010, 05:45 AM by Greedo The Green Menace »

Offline 501ST

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Re: TVC will fail...
« Reply #32 on: October 14, 2010, 10:28 AM »
I wonder if the lack of really interesting characters left from some movies is the reason they're moving away from the movie themed waves going forward. Kind of a shame they're not hitting out one last ANH themed wave though. I bet they could really blow the collector community away with that one. Throw in a new Fleet Trooper, Tarkin, Bom Vimdin, Evazan and Ponda and a few other highly requested figures. Repack the Resurgance Luke, and update Leia and you've got a pretty exciting group a la ROTJ wave.

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Offline Jesse James

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Re: TVC will fail...
« Reply #33 on: October 14, 2010, 02:38 PM »
Hey, it's what I was told.   :-\

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Offline Jabba the Slug

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Re: TVC will fail...
« Reply #34 on: October 23, 2010, 07:20 PM »
I think the line is doing well, but it's potential downfall is:

1. months between new waves (ROTS in September, ROTJ around November, AOTC in January?!) - this allows time for the better sellers to fly off shelves, while the pegwarmers gradually build up en masse, making it harder to put up newer figures - same deal as the '10 CPs.

2. higher price than TCW and SL. This is the deal - for $6.99 we get TCW and SL figures, with a baggy full of guns, a stand, a card, and a die. For $7.99? A TVC figure. Just that, and maybe a few accessories - heck, there isn't even room on the packaging anymore to include larger-scale accessories! 
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Offline EpicGon

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Re: TVC will fail...
« Reply #35 on: October 23, 2010, 11:35 PM »
For the OT collectors it would be nice if Hasbro check the various rumors list from past years
A long waited Ot figure would be the emperor royal guard in SA.

Perhaps Hasbro will use more waves for Pt action figures while clone wars show is building background for some secondary characters like some senators, officers, aliens.

Offline Brian

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Re: TVC will fail...
« Reply #36 on: October 29, 2010, 10:32 AM »
Just thought I'd bump this up with the relatively negative talk regarding 2011's Wave 1 pictures.  Granted, I'm sure we have a lot of other great stuff on the way next year, and I think Hasbro has sort of admitted this is a "filler" wave a bit before a larger/neater Wave 2....but looking at the lineup, it does seem a bit boring.  Not only that, although I'm all for needed resculpts and all that, I know some people really just look forward to the "all new" figures.  Judging by many of the lineups in TVC figures so far, those are going to be few and far between.  I mean, looking at this 2011 wave, there really isn't anything "all new".  Sure, the figures are changed/updated a bit, but I'm not sure it is enough of a difference to get people buying a ton more Stormies, Utapau troopers, etc.

Obviously, this is a case where a few small changes could have made this wave a much more positive one.  I realize that it is tough having things "ready" and all that, but some line planning could fix much of that.  I can see now that they want to have main character "anchors" in each wave, so why not having a new Bespin Han or a new Hoth Luke in place of the ones they used here (although the Luke doesn't look too bad).  You think about other "anchor" figures, and they have sort of used a lot of them already.  We've already seen the already nice AOTC/ROTS Obi-Wan's re-used, as well as ROTS Anakin, Jedi Luke, Bespin Luke, Vader, etc.  Plus, I don't know how many more "niche" versions of these guys they can find.  I'm still excited by the line, and like I said - I think we have a lot of good on the way in 2011, but I am starting to wonder about the future of it if the waves continue to be this way.  Even out of the first two waves (ESB/ROTS), I can't say - aside from a couple figures - that any are very difficult to find.

I think, after a few more updates and maybe a minor tweak here or there, they could just repack previous versions of the main characters and then use the "tooling budget" to put a couple all-new figures in each wave.  I mean, thinking about many of the main characters, and most of them already have some near-perfect versions out there already:

Luke: Resurgence, Stormtrooper, X-Wing, Snowspeeder, Bespin, Jedi, Endor
Han: ANH (VOTC), Stormtrooper, Hoth
Obi-Wan: TPM, AOTC, ROTS, and ANH (although I don't think they consider "old" Obi an anchor figure)
Anakin/Vaders: AOTC, ROTS, or any number of Vaders
Chewie: Early Bird, VOTC
R2-D2: Resurgence
C-3PO: Endor Throne, or possibly a B-A-D repaint
Troopers: Any variety of Clones, and the Stormtrooper/Snowtrooper/Biker Scout/TIE Pilots all have pretty great versions

Anyways, the list could go on, but there are a number of characters they could draw on for repacks at this point if they need to.  Honestly, I think if we got all-new versions of Hoth Luke, Bespin Han...and possibly updates or tweaks to Endor Han or a new Carbonite version, I think I'd be fairly satisfied with what we've gotten for the main characters (not counting a new ANH Leia, but I doubt female figures are considered "anchors" either).
« Last Edit: October 29, 2010, 10:56 AM by Brian »

Offline speedermike

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Re: TVC will fail...
« Reply #37 on: October 29, 2010, 11:34 AM »
I agree 100%.

Hasbro has a very good Tatooine Luke and an excellent Han.  This really is a waste of effort.  Honestly, if Dr. Ezavan had been included, I'd be over the moon. Hasbro must understnd that many "collectors" have been doing this for 15 years, and really cherish "new" stuff. I consider Ezavan new because he was never on a card, and the figure made of him in the past was not only very lame, but the costume was innacurate.

Hell, a grey DST would have been better that R5-D4.

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Offline JACKOFTRADZE

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Re: TVC will fail...
« Reply #38 on: October 29, 2010, 01:15 PM »
Well said speedermike, well said.
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Offline Jabba the Slug

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Re: TVC will fail...
« Reply #39 on: October 29, 2010, 06:58 PM »
Hasbro's been including a lot of "refresh" (yeah right, Hasbro) in their waves - TVC Wave 5 for example, take a look at Han. Same figure we've gotten before, but "just different enough to make you mad." There were only 2 new figures in the ROTS wave, granted, all of the figures in the ROTJ wave are new...
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Offline Adam_Pawlus

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Re: TVC will fail...
« Reply #40 on: November 20, 2010, 12:53 AM »
Hasbro's been including a lot of "refresh" (yeah right, Hasbro) in their waves - TVC Wave 5 for example, take a look at Han. Same figure we've gotten before, but "just different enough to make you mad." There were only 2 new figures in the ROTS wave, granted, all of the figures in the ROTJ wave are new...

Hey, my favorite catchphrase! :D

Getting Boba Fett seems pretty difficult lately, and Darth Vader has done extremely well too.  The Sandtrooper, oddly, less so. (Go figure.)  I gotta assume the repacks are reaching a different fan because-- in all honesty-- these aren't here to tickle our fancies.  I'm somewhat surprised Boba's not shipping in any of the wave 3 or 4 mixes so far.  If anything they should be cranking out more of him before people catch on that he's going to be worthless.

Hasbro's really in a great position right now-- fans are paying attention to variations again, talking about name changes, deco changes, and the like, and people are engaged in a way I don't think I've honestly seen since .00 and .01 meant something to the online collecting community.  Plus didn't Rebelscum get some crazy positive response on their "Would you buy the same dang figure you already own on a vintage cardback?" poll a few years ago?  It's a nice way to make rereleases more appealing to the carded community which I thought was drying up lately.

While I agree the "refreshes" aren't necessarily ideal, I was just thinking this week how few repaint waves we get now.  We got a few in Revenge of the Sith near the end, we got (technically) three at the end of The Saga Collection, we got another one in the middle of 30th Anniversary, and we only got one in all of Legacy.   I guess they gotta cut a corner or two somewhere, and R5-D4 is probably recognizable enough that some parents will recognize him.  (Heck, mine did.)

The ROTJ wave did a bang-up job converting me from "grumpy" to "overwhelmingly optimistic."  I know own a movie-style season 2 cartoon Wicket figure.  Can it get better than this?  (Probably not but who knows if Logray will have a cartoon accessory like the blue outfit or the Sunstar/Shadowstone or visible sunberries or something.  [Yes I liked the Ewoks cartoon as a kid.])
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Offline JACKOFTRADZE

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Re: TVC will fail...
« Reply #41 on: November 20, 2010, 11:40 AM »
The ROTJ wave did a bang-up job converting me from "grumpy" to "overwhelmingly optimistic."  I know own a movie-style season 2 cartoon Wicket figure.  Can it get better than this?  (Probably not but who knows if Logray will have a cartoon accessory like the blue outfit or the Sunstar/Shadowstone or visible sunberries or something.  [Yes I liked the Ewoks cartoon as a kid.])

The same thing happened to me. For the first time I was finding myself becoming a bit cantankerous with the line until the ROTJ wave. It truly is the new benchmark. Even seeing the recent packaged shots of the new AOTC wave you can really see how well they are done. I purchased three Wickets, 2 to open in their different outfits and one to keep packaged.

My only hope is that the Han Solo will be an all new sculpt as Hasbro said it would be and not the rehash on the comic pack. The head sculpt that was shown at C5 confirms at least a new head. That figure is my most anticipated. If he is on par with the ROTJ wave I will really be happy!
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Offline Jabba the Slug

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Re: TVC will fail...
« Reply #42 on: November 20, 2010, 03:05 PM »
I did see that image from the CP, and I hope that isn't Bespin Han we're getting. If it is... >:(

I'm starting to notice that ROTS Anakin is starting to build up on the pegs. Which really shocked me. Boba is for sure the top seller of Wave 1, and even Darth Vader's selling through decently, but he's not a chore to find. I would say the Bespin Pilot and 4-LOM are the greatest peg warmers of Wave 1.
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Offline Brian

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Re: TVC will fail...
« Reply #43 on: November 20, 2010, 03:52 PM »
I've been a bit surprised that Vader has really been moving now too here locally.  He was an early pegwarmer, but doesn't seem to be around too much at this point.  Honestly, our pegs are mostly full of ROTS stuff now, with a trickle here or there of the ESB wave.  Like Adam mentioned, the Sandtroopers are all over the place here too, which is a bit surprising.  Seems like a great figure, plus one that was never on a vintage cardback, but who knows.

Overall, the vintage line doesn't seem to be doing too badly.  I know it has seemed like CW stuff was outselling the "movie" stuff big time last year at this time (around Christmas), and I can't say that there is a huge difference this year.  Both pegs are much fuller than we've seen in the past (I remember the past couple Christmas seasons the pegs being nearly empty it was selling so well), but I can't say that one is necessarily outselling the other.

I mentioned it before, but I'm in the camp that is annoyed with the unnecessary "tweaks" as well.  Sure, there are great instances to do that (check out Jesse's recent thread), but sometimes it seems like they are re-doing a figure when they really don't have to.  I think most would have been just as happy, or happier, to see the Resurgence of the Jedi Luke or the VOTC Han straight recarded than waste new tooling or another slot to put out the slightly different versions.  Granted, the Luke looks decent, but it is just an example of where they could dedicate more to some all new sculpts and just repack some of the great figures they've already done over the past few years.

Offline Jabba the Slug

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Re: TVC will fail...
« Reply #44 on: November 23, 2010, 01:04 AM »
The line's been doing very well as of the TVC reboot, but IMO, if waves are modeled more after Wave 5 (2011 Wave 1), then we'll again see a drop in the line's success.

Red-phase LC was a perfect example: too many repaints/repacks per wave, and too many obscure characters. Granted, we need the obscure characters every once in a while, but put too many in a wave without a good recognizable character ("anchor"), and sales go down. I always saw Leesub Serlin, Malakilli, and Nikto Gunner pegwarming.

But if you look at TVC waves, they're perfectly balanced. We got Vader, 3PO, Han, Luke and Leia in Wave 1, plus the other minor characters. Wave 2 was pretty much ALL inconic characters. The ROTJ wave is perfectly balanced, with Luke as the anchor. But in Wave 5 there are no lightsaber-wielders, plus all those repacks/repaints.   
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