The Playset Thread

[CHEWIE]

I think that people are overreacting to the question, but I do think they could have taken out the "To be honest, they're rather lame and have very high price tags" line.  But, in all fairness, that's what a lot of people have been saying across various forums.  In that sense I don't see what the fuss is about, unless it's just people who don't like ST anyway trying to cause a stink, which is what tends to happen even if their name is mentioned over here.  For those of you that have the notion that they're just a bunch of jerks, I'd suggest spending some time over there and you'll probably find they're a actually nice site with a lot of good forum members.  Even though I heard nothing but negativity from folks over here about them, I gave them a chance and quite enjoy the atmosphere.  But, I'm not in a cave either like some people are - I'm active at 5 different forums... and I've never been bashed for my opinions at any forum like I am by some members here, but I still come back. 

Anyways, I don't think anyone believes these are playsets in the traditional sense.  A lot of us have been clamoring for diorama-esque environments for a long time, and anything BUT traditional playsets.  We already know what those end up looking like.  Who wants more of that?  Certainly I do not.  I'm quite happy with what we're seeing with the Lars set and the Sarlacc, and hope they continue going that route, and hopefully expanding down the road like jedi_master_sal said.

[David]

That was rather lame of Sandtroopers to say that.

[CHEWIE]

I agree on the Death Star, Sal - even if it doesn't appear in many episodes of the live TV series.  But, it might?  It apparently plays a somewhat significant role in TFU at least.  So who knows.

[DSJ™]

To be honest, they're rather lame

Very remark.

[David]

LOL! Leave it to DSJ to post the perfect smiley-enhanced remark where others struggle to put their comments into words.

[CHEWIE]

Yeah, I wouldn't have included that line, the more I think about it.

I guess we (and Hasbro) will really know how the market feels about these once they hit the shelves and we can all see how well they sell.  Right now we can speculate.   

[Jayson]

I guess we (and Hasbro) will really know how the market feels about these once they hit the shelves and we can all see how well they sell.  Right now we can speculate.   

And this has held true since the relaunch of the SW line in 95. Ultimately, it has always come down to the numbers sold versus demand. It's pretty safe to say that number of collectors wanting an item like the BMF outnumbers those that have actually purchased one and I think the playset/environment would follow the same model. There can be all the desire in the world for an item, but if it's not purchased (despite the "lame" or "cool" factors) it doesn't matter.

[ruiner]

That's a good point Jayson.  I want the new Falcon but don't want to pay for it.

[Jesse James]

Same with me...  I've not bought the Falcon yet myself, hoping for a sale at some point.  First it's too big for me to find a good home for it in the collection right now, but second it doesn't fit the "scale" rules I go by so it took a backseat to the AT-TE which I've vowed to force into the collection somewhere, haha.

As far as the comment...  Well, sites have editors for a reason, and usually editors jobs consist of showing some tact with the questions asked by any given site.  I don't think much was shown there by telling Hasbro "your sets are lame" in the Q&A.  I'm the last guy to feel Hasbro can't take criticism, believe me, but we've found the more constructive and mature you ask the question, the usually better response you get from Hasbro...  And that question was just asked in an inanely boneheaded manner any way you slice it.

To be honest I think the Sarlacc Pit is pretty damn cool...  I'm looking forward to it, but the Lars Homestead I feel is a tad dull and I'm not sure I'll spend $50 to get one.  Would I like one?  Hell yeah...  It'd look great next to the Landspeeder and some vaporators obviously.  Who doesn't think that?  But is it enough for me to spend $50 or whatever to get it?  At the moment, no...  The Pit though is more likely where I'll put my money.  I just dig it.

As far as people's opinions of Sandtroopers here, I don't see a ton of bashing them on our site...  Actually I don't see anyone really talking about them at all, ever, so I don't get that notion at all.  Some of their members aren't friendly with some of ours, and that's the extent of our interaction basically.  No huge deal there...  This isn't about who likes or dislikes their site, it's about a question asked in a pretty dumb manner regardless if it was Curto asking it, or as the case may be one of the smaller sites asking it.  It came off mostly as a slap in the face of the Q&A overall, which isn't good for anyone IMO.

I think some sites try too hard to "act tough" in the face of Hasbro...  I don't know how to word it really I guess, but I just get that vibe by some of the questions some sites let through.  I think civil discourse is more appropriate, especially dealing on a professional level with a company like Hasbro.  People need to keep in mind that despite some mistakes, there are guys on that board doing their best.  I don't think they're offended, or they'll quit the Q&A or any of that horse ****.  That's blowing stuff out or proportion.  I do think simple tact and cvility requires that, even if you have a beef, you should try to be constructive in your confronting Hasbro with a question about it.

Their answer seemed pretty much to match what I've always thought too...  These aren't playsets.  They're more like a big assed accessory (IE: The Hoth cannon or logs), to complement your figure.  Let's face it...  That Lars dome is no different than the boxes that came with the Death Star Technician...  They're no different than getting some plastic barrels, or whatnot.  The Sarlacc is like getting the Dagobah Dragon thing, or a Rancor...  To me that's a beast and almost counts as a figure.

A Death Star that stacks with hallways and opening doors and this and that though, that's a playset...  And it's not comprised of two or three injection molded pieces (IE: Simplicity), but rather a complex design, with "features".  I believe I read the dome's biggest feature is it has a molded table in the middle of it?  I thought I recalled that from somewhere.  That's not a playset at all.  It's a big(ger) accessory.  And it's gonna cost you $50 to buy that big accessory I guess.

[Phrubruh]

I think we would all like the homestead better if it came with semi-new figures. It's possible that it will and the Owen/Breu are just placeholders for newer versions of them. It makes me wonder why we couldn't have a Luke with Saga Landspeeder included with the dome also.

[CHEWIE]

I think we would all like the homestead better if it came with semi-new figures. It's possible that it will and the Owen/Breu are just placeholders for newer versions of them. It makes me wonder why we couldn't have a Luke with Saga Landspeeder included with the dome also.

YES!  If they had just included that Landspeeder with the Luke, I'd be thrilled.  Even at $50.00.

[CHEWIE]

A Death Star that stacks with hallways and opening doors and this and that though, that's a playset...  And it's not comprised of two or three injection molded pieces (IE: Simplicity), but rather a complex design, with "features". 

This LINK directs to a custom Death Star playset/diorama.  But I don't think it's a playset design in the "traditional" sense - each level seems more like a diorama to me, with more of an "aesthetic appeal" than "play value."

Anyways, would the market be interested in this sort of a layout, if the levels were modular like this, and you could connect them on top of each other, side by side, etc.?  And if so, what would be a fair price for each level?

Or, would the market rather see something more like THIS?

[Jesse James]

Depends on complexity...  Let's say the Lars Homestead dome is 2 or 3 (max) pieces of injection molded plastic.  From what I gather, that's about all it is...  That's 3 tooled pieces to form the item.  It costs $50 with its smattering of old figures.

Looking at the stackable Death Star items, you're looking at 3, 4, or so similar "items" comprised of probably similar total number of parts to make each "section".  You're already looking at $150 or so then...  Let's say $120 to be liberal though.

So is anyone willing to shell out $120-ish for 3 unique stackable little Death Star halls to display figures in?  That's ultimately the question.  Or to simplify it, would people pay $50 per section (assuming you get 3 or 4 rehashed figures too) to buy any given section?

And by "anyone" I mean mostly collectors, because honestly will kids give a **** about any piece of that first Death Star?  I doubt it.  And bear in mind also that none of those sections can have anything complex added to them (IE: lights, sounds, "working" elevators, springloaded anything, etc.).  At best maybe a door that opens ala the Hoth Turret's door or something.

[Rob]

Well consider me part of the appreciative audience Hasbro is expecting.  I'm more geeked up about the homestead than the Sarlacc Pit for a few reasons.  One, it seems really well done and I think it will display well where the Sarlacc Pit looks like a block of sand with a hole and a monster in it.  Second, that special edition Sarlacc Pit with a mouth still bugs me a little.

I like them both though and will be buying both.  I just hope Hasbro knows better than to listen to those knuckleheads at Sandtroopers when it comes to what people do or don't find lame.  Somehow I think they do.

[Dan]

I spent a lot of time voicing my interest in the notion of Hasbro designed props or environments to display my figures. I'm not a customizer, and wanted something different than steps or shelves to line figures up in rows. The Cantina bar and tables are great, but I need a backdrop. Reiken's map is great, but it needs an icy cave setting.

So in that sense, I really like the Lars homestead. It is a cool big prop, not a lot of tooling/assembly for the big H, etc. But $50 is too much unless the figures are better. I could go $30 or so for the dome itself given an opportunity, but I don't see something this big being re-released a dozen times like the speederbike so this may be the only shot at it.

I agree with Rob about the Sarlaac. I didn't walk out of Jedi thinking they needed a little shop of horrors monster with electronic sound effects to make the movie better, and the addition of the sar-sac is still annoying to me. But I agree that it is a cool environment choice to get some figures displayed and re-release the skiff.
 
But getting back to Jesse's point about the Falcon (another massive playset in many ways), how many of us have room for too many of these now? When I was making my noise on the subject, it was several years and several hundred figures ago. Now I bought the Falcon, and have almost completely re-done my collection room trying to fit it in- it still hasn't worked. And I have thinned out my collection considerably, probably by nearly half from strictly a storage/display standpoint.

The prequels brought a lot of new collectors in to the mix, so maybe they are in a better spot to fit some of these great monstrosities in to their collection. But I know space and storage issues have become their own threads in places, so for sure I am not alone either. For me, the time of big props may have come and gone- I like how they look, but financially and physically they don't fit very well with what I am willing to make my collection become. I may still end up with Lars homestead, but I don't know how many more items like it I could take.