Author Topic: Toy Fair 2010!  (Read 35108 times)

Offline Brian

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Re: Toy Fair 2010!
« Reply #90 on: February 16, 2010, 10:23 AM »
I'm not going to be going the carded collectionj route, but there's a chance I'll try to remove the bubbles without damaging the cards I think.

I like the cardbacks, and the look will be distinct for sure.

Everything they showed was pretty great though.  I wasn't disappointed with much.  I even was real into the AT-AT which I don't have an immediate intention to buy...  But I still dug it. 

The figures, I am easy because I like resculpts...  To me, the line's almost got a wealth of them deeper than new figures IMO.  I've got a laundry list a mile long of stuff I'd enjoy seeing redone, or even just tweaked, and I'd gladly buy it again.  If it's a big enough improvement I'm pretty happy, so figures like Bespin Luke (now we've seen that up close), are really nice.  A bit recent, but still really nice.

I'm sort of in the same boat as Jesse with the resculpt opinion.  When I try to make up my lists of what I want the most, a lot of it consists of re-dos (primarily from the OT).  Sure, there will always be more all-new figures we'd all like to see, and I'm happy for those too - but the sculpting/paint/articulation (for the most part) has improved so much since the POTF2 days there are a lot of improvements we could see.

I may end up going the "carefully remove the cardback" route as well, we'll see.  I actually do that with all the lines (keep the cardbacks), and then usually end up purging a lot of it every year or two again thinking "why did I keep these".  I do have a carded set of the VOTC/VTSC so far, so we'll see.  I'll definitely keep the cardbacks either way.  Like I said, I end up throwing quite a few away after awhile from the other lines (aside from "vintage", OTC, and 25th Joes) and keep just a few samples or something (although all of that is available online now).

Offline Darth_Anton

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Re: Toy Fair 2010!
« Reply #91 on: February 16, 2010, 11:10 AM »
Just to confirm - yes, the fett sticker is designed to peel off easily for those who want clean cards. 

That's just cruel.
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Offline Jeff

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Re: Toy Fair 2010!
« Reply #92 on: February 16, 2010, 12:16 PM »
Am I alone in finding Hasbro's 2010 Star Wars offerings lackluster compared to previous years.

I always was lefting drooling over a good handful of figures, this year, almost nothing.

I think the big issue is they have two (if not three) shows to fill in the Fall - SDCC, C5, and possibly NYCC (Marvel for sure at NYCC).  They basically admitted to having to hold back a lot (exclusives) until later in the year so they have enough to reveal at each show.

It was sort of anti-climatic and there weren't any huge reveals, but there is more coming than what was shown.
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Offline Jeff

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Re: Toy Fair 2010!
« Reply #93 on: February 16, 2010, 01:21 PM »
Other general stuff I learned at Toy Fair...

- Legends cards use the "Shadow of the Dark Side" style of the Clone Wars figures, but with a big orange stripe at the top.  The merchandising teams will be providing info and updates to retailers to help them keep the two lines straight because...

- CW and Legends will be dropping to $6.99 SRP.  Vintage will stay at $7.99 because they know we'll pay it the higher cost is needed to get us more "new" figures with the quality we've grown accustomed to seeing.

- CW gets a price break because they can afford it now thanks to many 2+ year old figures ending up in the line again next year (Anakin, Rex, Ahsoka, etc).  The fact that they can keep recarding and reusing so many of the figures helps bring the price of the line down.  Legends gets the price break because they look like the CW stuff.

- In case you can't tell by the pictures, the cards are back to 6x9 for the Vintage line.  The CW/Legends cardback is the new smaller size though.

- From Derryl Depriest: "the bubble was designed to accomodate the big figures... but not HUGE ones".  In other words, a GamGuard wll fit in the new bubble (it's much deeper than I was expecting and should be just one standard size used for all figures), but Hermi/Ephant will not.  Doesn't rule out a repack of them someday, just not anytime soon.

- I asked about Bastila Shan.  Sounds like at some point, we will get an EU wave on the "vintage" cardbacks.  Probably not until late 2011, early 2012 but there will probably be EU on the cards at some point.  

- The eventual EU wave (whenever it happens) will likely hold a few of the cancelled comic pack guys - Noghri, Ralra, Non Anor, etc.  That was good news to me because I'd probably buy a few Noghri now and wouldn't have with the comic pack.

- More on the EU wave; they were still trying to figure out if the cards would simply say "Star Wars", "Star Wars: Expanded Universe" or if they'll get down to a finer level of detail (KOTOR, Dark Horse Legacy, etc).

- Sounds like it's... Wave 1 = ESB, Wave 2 = RotS, Wave 3 = RotJ, and Wave 4 = AotC.  We'll probably get wave 2-4 at SDCC and then previews of waves 5-6 (ANH, TPM) at C5.

- Contrary to what you may have read elsewhere, there was NO info at Toy Fair on the AotC wave or another set of Target Arena 2-Packs.

- Still no home for Imp Scanning Dude #2.  They really want to get him out, but they don't have aplace for him in 2010.  Maybe 2011...
« Last Edit: February 16, 2010, 01:43 PM by Jeff »
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Offline ruiner

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Re: Toy Fair 2010!
« Reply #94 on: February 16, 2010, 01:39 PM »

- CW and Legends will be dropping to $6.99 SRP.  Vintage will stay at $7.99 because they know we'll pay it the higher cost is needed to get us more "new" figures with the quality we've grown accustomed to seeing.


Wow, good luck with that Hasbro. . .


Offline Brian

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Re: Toy Fair 2010!
« Reply #95 on: February 16, 2010, 02:07 PM »
Thanks for all of the great info and pics Jeff (and everyone else).  We may not have seen a ton of "new" stuff, simply because of leaked information, but I'm still pretty excited about the line for the next year plus.  The vintage stuff is just what I was hoping for in the line, and I for one am sort of happy for the smaller release numbers (but I'd rather not have the 6-8 month break we've been getting each year).  Looking forward to see more of what the vintage line has to offer later this year as well, and the ESB wave looks great.

I have been back and forth with the CW stuff, but have stuck with it for the most part so far and I'm looking forward to a number of the upcoming figures there too.  Plus, the deluxe line looks to really be hitting its stride (particularly this fall) with a lot of neat mini rig like stuff there.  Jeff's info about the price cut being due to being able to release older figures reminds me again of how this CW line is similar in many ways to what the vintage line was when we were kids.  There isn't a huge number of "new" figures each year, they are mixed in with the main characters from the beginning of the line, and there is a lot of neat supporting stuff with the deluxes, vehicles, etc.  Similar to how we saw figures from Star Wars (and ESB) still re-released during the ROTJ line, etc.

One thing that I've noticed is how Hasbro has been so specific saying the Vintage Collection will last "at least two years".  I don't think we've ever heard them specifically announce how long a line will run (and lately its barely been a year before a card change), so it makes me wonder if there is a specific reason for that.  I wonder if its "we're going to try to get all the stuff out we can in two years before the movie stuff dies out", since they are constantly talking about the realistic line's struggles...or if there is something more that they know about the live action series or something, and thinking that the line will take a new look when that hits.  Personally, I hope the movie line goes on for a long time to come, but I guess if they made good choices from now until 2012-2013, they could probably cover quite a bit of what we'd want.

Offline Jesse James

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Re: Toy Fair 2010!
« Reply #96 on: February 16, 2010, 06:11 PM »
The impression I got on that is that the reboot's to reacquire collector's interest, and that they're willing to go a while with this line's look if it's drawing in the crowds.  Not that it's a race to get everything out they feel's a necessity as much as it's a long-term plan to get collector's hooked again, but at some point the line's look will change again.
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Offline Rob

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Re: Toy Fair 2010!
« Reply #97 on: February 16, 2010, 06:21 PM »
Now that they've decided they'd do PT and EU figures on it anyway, they should leave the vintage style packaging indefinitely. 


Offline jedi_master_sal

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Re: Toy Fair 2010!
« Reply #98 on: February 16, 2010, 07:10 PM »
Now that they've decided they'd do PT and EU figures on it anyway, they should leave the vintage style packaging indefinitely. 

That's how I feel about it.

I have to say again, this needs to be about the product not the packaging. If the figures are good enough or great, people will buy them.

However,I will say carding these on Vintage style cards will most certainly be a draw and I support the vintage style for the long haul. Maybe not the next 8 years that Hasbro has the license, but their projected 2+ years is a good start.
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Offline Rob

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Re: Toy Fair 2010!
« Reply #99 on: February 16, 2010, 07:24 PM »
Somehow this:



...just says Star Wars more than this...


Offline Brian

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Re: Toy Fair 2010!
« Reply #100 on: February 16, 2010, 08:13 PM »
The impression I got on that is that the reboot's to reacquire collector's interest, and that they're willing to go a while with this line's look if it's drawing in the crowds.  Not that it's a race to get everything out they feel's a necessity as much as it's a long-term plan to get collector's hooked again, but at some point the line's look will change again.

Yeah, that is sort of what I meant (although I did a lousy job saying it) - I do think this line is definitely "for us", as far as collectors go.  I think this is Hasbro's way of pulling out all the stops for collectors, and seeing if the sales improve.  I would sure think this line would do well, but if the collector base has dropped off as much as they say/think, maybe it won't.  It all looks great to me though, and I'm really looking forward to it.  Wish we didn't have to wait until August.  I never would have thought it before, but if sales don't improve in the next couple years, maybe they would give the movie stuff a rest (at least until something else big like 3D versions of the movies, blu ray, etc.)  Like I said, I do think they could cover a lot of much wanted new figures and resculpts in a few years though.

Offline Darby

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Re: Toy Fair 2010!
« Reply #101 on: February 16, 2010, 09:39 PM »
I agree this should be the card for the rest of the line - Coca-Cola has had the same basic packaging for how many years?  Campbell's soup?  People identify these cards with Star Wars in a big way, and I'd love to see it extended to even the Clone Wars.

Offline iFett

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Re: Toy Fair 2010!
« Reply #102 on: February 16, 2010, 09:48 PM »
I've lost track of how many times I saw 30-yr old something guys with their wives/kids in the action figure aisle oogling over the 25th Joe stuff with the vinty cardbacks that stopped collecting as a kids.  Never bothered to ask them about what's up now, but I'm sure with the $7.99 price point as apposed to $9.99 - it might grab some of those "lingering" old school SW collectors back into the meat n potatoes of this line.

and I'd love to see it extended to even the Clone Wars.

Totally disagree and I think it kinda sucks that we'll be seeing prequel figures on these beautiful cards, but at least this will be a 2 year run so that's good..I guess.  I dig the "cloudy darkside" whatever packaging, but these lines really need different packaging for CW/Legends especially after the mess we've all seen at retail these past few years.  Would love to see if retail actually puts what belongs where on the pegs, but this is a start.
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Offline Darby

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Re: Toy Fair 2010!
« Reply #103 on: February 16, 2010, 10:22 PM »
I agree, differentiating the lines is a great thing.  It will definitely help.

I'm not purist with the cards, though.  I'm a Star Wars nerd since 1977 at the Starlight Drive In, and I have no issues whatsoever seeing PT or CW figures on these cards.  Kind of like I mentioned before, these cards are Star Wars - and good or bad, it's all Star Wars.

Offline Darth Broem

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Re: Toy Fair 2010!
« Reply #104 on: February 17, 2010, 12:02 AM »
Honestly I will probably be more interested in getting a PT figure on a vintage cardback than before.  Especially for the major characters like Darth Maul, Kenobi, Jinn, Jango Fett, some clonetroopers/commanders, etc.