Author Topic: How many SAGA2 Sandtroopers do you have?  (Read 57939 times)

Offline Rob

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Re: How many SAGA2 Sandtroopers do you have?
« Reply #90 on: July 4, 2006, 04:04 PM »
Sure it is.  They say that they're absorbing the extra costs for ball joints and the like on certain figures by not doing so on others. 

Why would they spend a bunch on Snowtroopers when they're working on a SA version.  They're just trying to milk the one they have for whatever they can before it becomes utterly obsolete.

Offline jedistyle

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Re: How many SAGA2 Sandtroopers do you have?
« Reply #91 on: July 4, 2006, 09:54 PM »
i still have yet to see this figure on the shelf at any store at all. nothing at my tru, walmart, kmart, target or any where else. but hope fully i'll be able to pick a few up sooner or later!
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Offline ruiner

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Re: How many SAGA2 Sandtroopers do you have?
« Reply #92 on: July 5, 2006, 01:36 PM »
Sure it is. They say that they're absorbing the extra costs for ball joints and the like on certain figures by not doing so on others.

Why would they spend a bunch on Snowtroopers when they're working on a SA version. They're just trying to milk the one they have for whatever they can before it becomes utterly obsolete.

You're right.  I wonder if we could get decent articulation on ALL new figures if Hasbro ditched the holos and stands - obviously they add cost.




Offline Rob

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Re: How many SAGA2 Sandtroopers do you have?
« Reply #93 on: July 5, 2006, 02:43 PM »
The holos and stands probably aren't that expensive in the long run - because they a) have no moving parts and b) are one shot deals.  They sculpt the stand once, sculpt each holograph once, and then just spit lots of them out.  Creating all the tooling for individual elbows and shoulders and knees on individual figures costs a lot more in the long run than a few cheapo pack-ins.

Offline Darth_Anton

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Re: How many SAGA2 Sandtroopers do you have?
« Reply #94 on: July 5, 2006, 08:53 PM »


I don't get it.

I do. $$$

I'm sure the Snowtrooper was on the short list for VTSC and it seems like the order of the year was one army builder in every wave. Sure, the could have given us a good Hoth rebel trooper, but why make a new sculpt when you can kit bash and sell less for more.  ;)

I chose not to army build with this one hopping we'd get a better one down the line. For once, it looks like a gamble is going to pay off.
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Offline Daigo-Bah

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Re: How many SAGA2 Sandtroopers do you have?
« Reply #95 on: July 5, 2006, 09:05 PM »
Let's see- I have 3 Saga sandtroopers, 1 of which I swapped bodies with the orange-pauldroned Evolutions version for a little dirt variety, one I stripped of his accessories to make the dirty Stormie in the back of the group that confronted Garindan, and one that remained the same.  I also have 2 variant grey Evolutions versions: one atop the dewback and the other in the sand dunes looking for the droids.  Lastly I have one other orange Evolutions version at the front of the group talking to Garindan.  As far as I can tell, there were little to no orange pauldroned versions out in the dunes.
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Offline Dressel Rebel

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Re: How many SAGA2 Sandtroopers do you have?
« Reply #96 on: July 5, 2006, 11:14 PM »
As far as I can tell, there were little to no orange pauldroned versions out in the dunes.

I did see a lot more of them in Mos Eisley, but I know of at least one in the dunes:

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Offline Jesse James

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Re: How many SAGA2 Sandtroopers do you have?
« Reply #97 on: July 6, 2006, 01:33 AM »
The thing about Hasbro's answer that doesn't register as satisfactory to me is that yes their ball-jointed style costs more to produce however it's like damn near everything else in life where if it's costing you more there's usually a cheaper way of doing things.

I'm all for articulation in a general sense, obviously...  I think Hasbro's ball/socket articulation is without a doubt among the tops in this scale, hand's down, but it's a process of injection molding that costs more during production, blah blah blah...  It's great on army builders though and characters you'll sell assloads of because you're going to diminish all the fixed costs to practically nill over time as you sell more and more units.  Sure you'll still be sinking $ into production of the figure, but your mold toolings will cost (in theory) $0 eventually as you'll have earned enough off the toy to offset that fixed total.

Now, my opinion is that if your ball/socket joint is costlier during production...  drop it for the less costly style.  I personally would like a straight hinged knee joint with a pin holding it in place over NO knee joint...  Or how about going the route other companies chose by having a hinged knee where the lower leg simply "pops" into a groove/peg built into the figure's upper thigh?  Fairly well conceiled, sturdy if properly designed, incredibly cheap to produce by comparison... 

I'm ok with angle-cut elbow joints too...  They work for me on most figures.  Save the ball/sockets for the figures you're gonna do well on like army builders and main characters, but don't cut articulation all together on figures you CAN do better on...  Just cut the style of articulation. 

Did Garindan need ball/socket shoulders?  No...  Give him straight shoulders and ball/socket knees then.  Did he need his boots to swivel?  Hell no.  Give him hinged knees instead maybe. 

Does he need ANY of that articulation?  Say what you want, but I believe he does.  He's a $7 freaking action figure...  He should be poseable if all he did was walk in a pile of **** for a split second of screentime. 

As far as stands and holographs, I personally have to disagree that they're a minor cost Rob, but that's just my POV.  That's 12 mold toolings just for the holo's...  The stands require their own plus the decoration (minor point on the deco but it is sort of a particular paint ap and a cost).  For my money, that's better put into the toy, as the stand and miniature holograph mean jack to me...   :-\ 

Anyway, I think Hasbro can do a tad better...  When we have a company slapping ankle joints on a figure like Sora Bulq, or Bacara, and they're points of articulation you can't even USE, let alone the costs involved (supposedly) in them being there in the first place...  Well I just know by that, that Hasbro's capable of better for collectors.

Personally, while I know the molding process for the ball/socket joint is costlier, I don't believe it's as costly as they let on...  That's me though.  I've always felt that Hasbro plays the "poor us" game at times when it came to how they portray their efforts with the line...  When they're the ones making the money and we're the ones spending though, I really don't look highly upon their POV and feel they can do better by me, and my wallet.
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Offline Rob

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Re: How many SAGA2 Sandtroopers do you have?
« Reply #98 on: July 6, 2006, 03:17 AM »
"As far as stands and holographs, I personally have to disagree that they're a minor cost Rob, but that's just my POV.  That's 12 mold toolings just for the holo's...  "

It's possible, I'm not an expert - I just look at it like this, you pay someone to make 12 low-quality sculpts (comparatively not that expensive) and then you just have to make a single mold of each.  No moving parts, no assembly, no paint, no anything.  It's a one time cast - and the tooling can't be all that big a deal on just one piece.  Hell, one of our maquette sculptors could make those at work in a day or two from scratch if he had the right kind of plastic to inject into a mold.

Offline darth punkinhed

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Re: How many SAGA2 Sandtroopers do you have?
« Reply #99 on: July 6, 2006, 09:33 AM »
I finally picked up two of these at Wally world last weekend. I found two more at Kohls last night but I refuse to pay $9.99 retail for these. You could even see the $7.99 sticker underneath so you know they just raised the price on these recently.
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Offline Nicklab

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Re: How many SAGA2 Sandtroopers do you have?
« Reply #100 on: July 6, 2006, 09:46 AM »
Five now.  Scored two of those this morning.  The thing that I'm really liking about these is the ball jointed head.  I can pop the heads and swap the pauldrons from the Evolutions Sandtroopers with these Sandtroopers.  It makes the ranks look a little more diverse.
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: How many SAGA2 Sandtroopers do you have?
« Reply #101 on: July 6, 2006, 05:00 PM »
It's possible, I'm not an expert - I just look at it like this, you pay someone to make 12 low-quality sculpts (comparatively not that expensive) and then you just have to make a single mold of each.  No moving parts, no assembly, no paint, no anything.  It's a one time cast - and the tooling can't be all that big a deal on just one piece.  Hell, one of our maquette sculptors could make those at work in a day or two from scratch if he had the right kind of plastic to inject into a mold.

I agree Rob on your view of it...  12 sculpts spread over the line, but it's still 12 molds that impacted the costs of figures ultimately...  They're still production items and all is what I'm saying, so the molds are higher-cost stainless steel machined molds, whereas I'd guess your maquette sculptors are working with something faster and for smaller scale (akin to resin, right?)...  It's a cost is all I meant by my point though, and one I don't feel is a necessity when the cost can be pushed into the toy's themselves.  Same for stands IMO.  I prefer the figure or figure-centric accessories getting the investment.

I'm sure it cost less to make the 12 molds for the minis than to make a single new SA figure though if there were to be a comparison...  I just wonder what the costs of the pack-ins would have been like had they been spread across figures...  Like ankle joints on Cody, or knee joints on Veers maybe...  That was more my point I guess.
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Offline Rob

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Re: How many SAGA2 Sandtroopers do you have?
« Reply #102 on: July 6, 2006, 06:43 PM »
I'm only speculating.  It also seems to me that every time they put a new pack-in into the line, that's when the price of a figure jumps a dollar or more.  Commtech Chips, These Holograms, Flashback cards... etc...   Which makes me wonder if the price increases are to offset the costs of making the pack-ins, or if the pack-ins are used as an inexpensive way to legitimize raising the price.

I'm guessing the second.

Offline Dressel Rebel

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Re: How many SAGA2 Sandtroopers do you have?
« Reply #103 on: July 7, 2006, 09:13 PM »
Does anyone have the ranks that correlate with the pauldron colors handy?

I'm under the impression that the orange is the highest ranked, and the black the lowest, with white and grey somewhere in between?

 ???
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Offline Ook

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Re: How many SAGA2 Sandtroopers do you have?
« Reply #104 on: July 7, 2006, 09:18 PM »
Does anyone have the ranks that correlate with the pauldron colors handy?

I'm under the impression that the orange is the highest ranked, and the black the lowest, with white and grey somewhere in between?

 ???

I read orange is "squad leader", white sergeant, black, as you say, is the low man. No idea about gray.

Also, there's a page here.
« Last Edit: July 7, 2006, 09:23 PM by Ook »