Your Loyalty?

[speedermike]

Over the weekend I was really steaming ay Hasbro for shortpacking the Concept Stormtrooper.  It occured to me, that as a company, I really don't like Hasbro.  While they've made some great toys and figures over the years, their treatment of collectors has always been questionable.

Then I figured that if someone else was making 3 3/4 SW Figures, I would drop Hasbro in a minute.  My loyalty is to Star Wars, not Hasbro.  What about you?

[Since1978]

I think my loyalty is to the basic figure line - which is somewhere between.  While it is first to Star Wars, I think if somebody else picked it up, we'd have to start ALL over with Farmboy Luke, etc.  With Hasbro, at least you know that there's a BUNCH of stuff completed, and that they continue to get into the more obscure, and interesting possibilities - just don't think that would be the case if somebody else picked up the line.

As for the McTrooper - relax, it comes two-per-case in the W1R1 assortment.  Haven't had a hard time finding them so far, even have an extra that somebody locally didn't need!

'78

[Jeff]

As for the McTrooper - relax, it comes two-per-case in the W1R1 assortment. 

Actually, the McQuarrie Trooper is only 1x per case in each of the three cases that he's in:

McQuarrie Stormtrooper:
- 1x per case in Wave 1, Revision 0
- 1x per case in Wave 1, Revision 1
- 1x per case in Wave 2, Revision 1

[Darth Broem]

We all gripe about Hasbro but I can't really see another toy company doing it much better than Hasbro.  McFarlane would be statues.  Mattell I don't know what they would come up with.  Someone showed Playmates prototypes of their SW offerings to Lucasfilm back in the day they were competing for the license.  Those looked horrible. 

I don't know as much as people whine about Hasbro (me included) it could be far, far worse.  I am always glad that they have at least given us tons of obscure figures that I seriously doubt any other company would even consider. 

However, I am not a pro-Hasbro fan or anything.  So, I guess I would be open to it.  Oh well.  It's not happening until at least 2008. 

 

[Brian]

I kind of agree with Darth Broem - we all complain about Hasbro from time to time (myself included), but at the same time, they have done some pretty good stuff.  I mean, figure these days especially are often top notch ("vintage" figures, much of ROTS, and the current/recent TSC/TAC collections) - and we've gotten a number of characters/figures that I never thought would see the light of day (starting back with ones like BoShek and Duros, and even now with the McQuarrie concept figures, Myo, Feltipern Trevagg, Jerjerrod, Imperial Officers box set, etc.).  Don't get me wrong, I'm not someone who says they do no wrong either - it is frustrating when you can't find a particular figure(s), as well as constant repacks and some questionable decisions, but overall I can honestly say I'm pretty happy with the line.  That said, I don't know that I'm necessarily "brand loyal" either.  If another company took over, I'd probably buy from them too.  But, that would likely depend on whether or not they would "fit in" with the figures we already have.  Like many others, I don't know if I would "start over" if the line was all new/different.  Hasbro can be frustrating, but I'm not sure what mass retailing license would do better.  We all know Mattel's faults with lines in the past, McFarlane would likely be similar to what we have gotten in Unleashed, and I'm not sure which others could/would take over the license.  So, I'm not necessarily brand loyal, but I'm happy with what Hasbro has done/is doing for the most part.

[Scott]

There is one company out there that also could do this line justice and IMO its Zizzle.  Their Pirates stuff is great with great likenesses but it also lacks in articulation.  Hasbro has listened over the years for more SA and for the most part we've gotten it on pretty much every single figure.  Sure its not all ball and socket type joints and not all knees and ankles are articulated but its there.  Case packs and the addition of "chase" crap is where Hasbro still has room to improve (as well as perfecting a Mark Hamill likeness)

One thing I'd be sorely tempted by is a 6" Marvel Legendsesque SW line...but that doesn't have to be Hasbro running the show.  We've debated many times if another company took over would you still collect.  I know I would as long as like Brian said, they were in scale and similar feel as to the Hasbro stuff.  I couldn't see another company wanting to do that...they would want to start fresh with their own take/scale etc.  And hell...Hasbro if they ever did do a SA Marvel Legends SW line.  It would be in 5" scale and then I don't really see the point as its basically a little bit bigger than 4" and to me not worth it.

[Dan]

I feel loyal to the Hasbro line in theory, but the line is losing interest for me. The last 12 years have been fun and full of figures, then figures getting re-done and improved, then figures repainted and repackaged, then new or semi new figures getting packaged with figures I have no interest in. The biggest fact for me is that for most of the figures, there is nothing left to do with them but stick them in a box and say "I have it." I'm not done buying Hasbro's line, but I can't imagine I would start another action figure line if the license were re-awarded in the future.
As far as brand loyalty- the Lucaslicensingmachine has done a pretty good job of keeping the various manufacturers from stepping on each others toes, so they really don't have comparble lines for us to choose from. There aren't 2-3 action figure brands out there like colas or cars.
I guess you could say that my Kubrick collection is the closest thing to competing with Hasbro for similar play toys. If I were to choose between them, the kubricks would win. Right now I find myself collecting Hasbro ships and playsets to use as props for the kubricks.

[CHEWIE]

I think this is a good topic.

I don't have loyalty to Hasbro at all.  It's purely about Star Wars for me.  I admit they do a great job sometimes, other times they are terrible.  They seem to jump around quite a bit in their quality of product, and their decision making.

What do I love about Hasbro?  The variety of characters they make.  If some other line had this, I'm afraid that when TPM came out, we would have seen nothing but Darth Maul, Obi Wan, Qui Gon, Anakin, and Yoda.  That's about it.  Look at the Spiderman lines in the past - really nothing but SPIDERMAN was available until this year with Spiderman 3, finally there's variety in that line now that Hasbro runs it.  They do a fantastic job in variety of characters, kudos to them for that.  BUT - I think that the foundation for that was laid with KENNER.  KENNER is who we should really thank.  If they hadn't done the variety in figures they offered in the vintage days, and with GI JOE... it's scary to think what Star Wars toys would (or would NOT be today).

What do I hate about Hasbro?  Their excuses for not making some items available, like small playsets that cater to collectors (or bigger ones!).  Therefore, I make my own or get something like the Death Star hand made from www.owenscustoms.com... Hasbro appears to have absolutely no clue how to even make something like this, so I wish they do what they did with the 12" line - sell the rights to a company who actually has an interest in this niche.  I'm sure Gentle Giant or Sideshow would jump at the opportunity to have the license for playsets.  Why doesn't Hasbro do this?  I think it's because they DO realize there is an opportunity here, but they fail to act on it, and instead of us having access to these things being made, we're left hanging.  Piss poor job on this Hasbro.  It would be impossible for a company with your resources to screw this up any worse than you have. 

Overall though, I give Hasbro a passing score of course, they have improved a lot.  But my loyalty is with the Star Wars franchise of 3-3/4" scale items, not with Hasbro.  They have done many great things but failed miserably in some areas.

 

[Brian]

There is one company out there that also could do this line justice and IMO its Zizzle.  Their Pirates stuff is great with great likenesses but it also lacks in articulation.

That's one company I didn't think of, and Scott makes a great point.  Their line is pretty well done (articulation issues aside), and they might be able to do a good job with Star Wars.  Aside from the Hasbro SW line, its Zizzle's POTC stuff that reminds me most of the SW of my youth.  I know I've said before, but if I were a kid now, I'd be all over that line I'm guessing.  A good variety of characters/figures (and even minor characters), a nice big Black Pearl playset/ship, and other stuff in between.  A good choice there.

One thing I'd be sorely tempted by is a 6" Marvel Legendsesque SW line...but that doesn't have to be Hasbro running the show.

Sadly, I can almost say with 100% that I'd be all over a new Marvel Legend-ish SW line as well.  I wouldn't want it alongside the basic line though, as it is hard enough for me to keep up now the way it is .  If for some reason the 3 3/4" line wrapped up, and then later on we were "re-started" with a SW line like this, I know I couldn't help but collect it.  I wouldn't want to start over fresh with a line, but this concept might get me to do that.  It wouldn't need to be as expansive in character selection necessarily, but getting the "big names" and troops done in this fashion would be enough for me.  That, and the releases could be cut back a bit too.  Like I said before, 60-100 figures each year (in the basic line alone) is more than enough for me - if the releases were cut down a bit to a more manageable number, it would be ok by me.  Sure, we choose to collect it so it is our own fault, but if you think about it I don't know that there is another line around with so much stuff out in a year to keep up with.  Marvel/DC/GI Joe/POTC/etc. have full lines, but I still bet the number of different characters/figures each year is probably closer to half that for the most part.

[Deanna Rash]

My sentiments exactaly.My loyality is to Star wars.Hasbro is great for Varity.Their sculpts have been getting better.In some case others not.I still yet to find SA Qui-Gon without funky hair,but that's beside the point.What might be lacking.I don't know.Hasbro has come a long way.So far they've catered to us quite a bit. I really couldn't imagine this from any other line,but that was what Kenner has first done.So my loyality is to Star Wars,nothing but Star Wars!!

[Artoo]

We all gripe about Hasbro but I can't really see another toy company doing it much better than Hasbro.  McFarlane would be statues.  Mattell I don't know what they would come up with.  Someone showed Playmates prototypes of their SW offerings to Lucasfilm back in the day they were competing for the license.  Those looked horrible. 

I com-pletely agree with you, but I agree with OCB & Brian, I'd like to see Zizzle snatch up the license in 2018 if Hasbro dosen't re-snatch it up. Mattel's figures would be the crappiest things ever.

My loyalty is to Star Wars. Star Wars is the only thing I buy from Hasbro. Hasbro really pisses me off sometimes with over-packing main characters (Vader in praticular) & under-packing army builders, who both kids & colelctors snatch up quickly. But you have to admit Hasbro is really improving over the past years this year. Last year 80% of the figures were re-packs, this year as of now there's not one re-pack. Also look at what Hasbro gave us in the 90's & early 2000's, buky, 6-point figures, sometimes with gay action features or weird facial expressions. Now it's acurate ( or close) sculpts with great points of articulation. Though Hasbro still needs to get Mark Hammil's, Carrie Fisher's & Samuel L. Jackson's face sculpts as good as they have with Harrison Ford's & Ewan Mcgregor's.

[ruiner]

We give them a tough time, but really, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Yeah, I'm sick of the repaints and rehashes, but they gotta do what they gotta do.  The SW team at Hasbro have bosses, just like we do.

PS:  Please ban the starter of this thread - all CAPS SUBJECTS ARE ILLEGAL AND WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!

Oops, wrong site.   

[iFett]

I'd like to see Zizzle snatch up the license in 2018 if Hasbro dosen't re-snatch it up.

Do you guys honestly think that you'll be collecting SW toys in 10 more years??  Hasbro cranks out hundreds of figures per year and I'm pretty sure that they will have covered all the bases by then.  I'm already on overload from the stuff I have and I can't even fathom how much more stuff I'll have by 2018.

So if another toy company takes over the license - are some of you guys really thinking about starting all over again - from ground Zero??

[evenflow]

I think Zizzle has done well with the pirates line, but alot of the figures look terrible. At one point i considered buying a few until i really looked at them. I think for the most part hasbro has done well. The figures are for the most part always improving upon themselves. They are finally willing to expand into the EU characters and they have listened to the fans. They give us fan choice polls year after year. Now they have the Q & A's (which i am very surprised about). We may not get all the figures we all want right away (i want Yarna but who knows if i will ever get one) but they seem to acknowledge the fact we want her. (There sense of humor is not the best) With that said, if another company puts out quality product (Sideshow), my money is given to them. If another company got the rights to do STar Wars figures in the same scale, and they were better for whatever reason, i may abondon the Hasbro figures and move onto those. If anything i think i am more loyal to the scale of the figures.

[Artoo]

I'd like to see Zizzle snatch up the license in 2018 if Hasbro dosen't re-snatch it up.

Do you guys honestly think that you'll be collecting SW toys in 10 more years??  Hasbro cranks out hundreds of figures per year and I'm pretty sure that they will have covered all the bases by then.  I'm already on overload from the stuff I have and I can't even fathom how much more stuff I'll have by 2018.

So if another toy company takes over the license - are some of you guys really thinking about starting all over again - from ground Zero??

I started collecting in 2005 so I'll be. Who knows maybe there'll be a new movie by then.