Author Topic: 2011 "Vintage" Collection Wave 7  (Read 118574 times)

Offline Sprry75

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Re: 2011 "Vintage" Collection Wave 7
« Reply #285 on: August 5, 2011, 03:14 PM »
I finally found this wave (except for Logray), and while Bom Vimdim is particularly fantastic, I'm pretty let down by Bespin Han and the RFT.  The sculpted jacket and vest are just weak--huge steps backward that significantly diminish the quality of the figures.  Drives me nuts...so close to perfect, and no reason to go backwards like this, but they did.  Bummer.

And what's with the removable ammo strap for the RFT?  Why is that necessary?  They give us that worthless extra (that could have been sculpted on just fine), but they can't give the guy a ******* holster?  Lame.

On the bright side, Bom is sweet.
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Offline warinthefloor

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Re: 2011 "Vintage" Collection Wave 7
« Reply #286 on: August 5, 2011, 03:25 PM »
found remnants of this wave last night
all that were left were Bom and Han
whats wrong with people?

Offline Pete_Fett

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Re: 2011 "Vintage" Collection Wave 7
« Reply #287 on: August 5, 2011, 03:33 PM »
found remnants of this wave last night
all that were left were Bom and Han
whats wrong with people?

I've been wondering the same thing - I found remnants the other night and all that was left was Han and Bom - not that Barris and Logray aren't also nice figures, but the Bespin Han was the top of my list of most wanted re-dos. I love that figure, I've picked up three to open so far just to put in various "scenes" I have in my ESB display cabinet.
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Offline Scockery

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Re: 2011 "Vintage" Collection Wave 7
« Reply #288 on: August 5, 2011, 04:46 PM »
found remnants of this wave last night
all that were left were Bom and Han
whats wrong with people?

Sounds like what a scalper  would leave behind...so the word "people" doesn't apply.

Why would a scalper leave Bom? Cantina aliens are rarely hot at the time of their release, only later do some appreciate on the aftermarket.

Not sure about Logray...maybe Wicket's scarcity made Ewoks resale gold.

Offline Jesse James

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Re: 2011 "Vintage" Collection Wave 7
« Reply #289 on: August 5, 2011, 10:46 PM »
I finally found this wave (except for Logray), and while Bom Vimdim is particularly fantastic, I'm pretty let down by Bespin Han and the RFT.  The sculpted jacket and vest are just weak--huge steps backward that significantly diminish the quality of the figures.  Drives me nuts...so close to perfect, and no reason to go backwards like this, but they did.  Bummer.

And what's with the removable ammo strap for the RFT?  Why is that necessary?  They give us that worthless extra (that could have been sculpted on just fine), but they can't give the guy a ******* holster?  Lame.

On the bright side, Bom is sweet.

I agree...  I really think the sculpted-on jackets/vests these days are a BIG step back aesthetically.  That now means paint aps, and paint aps usually screw up any good sculpting that was done because they're never perfect.

I miss removable vests and separately sculpted jacket pieces.  That stuff gave not just visual depth, but it was actual physically separate so there was just a higher quality there.  People have overlooked that on these two figures, a lot.  It's as big a step backward as not including thigh-straps on holsters and things.

Some folks disagree, but to me you're paying more and the figures are getting more and more corners cut.  Hasbro shouldn't be doing that.

And totally agree on the leg flares...  I like them, they're weird/neat, but they're such an obscurity.  To be perfectly honest, I feel the same on the hat.  I'd take a holster over either of those accessories being packed in.  You want to make a hat?  Re-release the Honor Guard with a more flexible "skirt" piece to his jacket, and pack a hat in with him.

Plus now that I have that hat, it's got hair sculpted to the back of it, and I don't dig that.  A) it's not painted, B) it's just meh.  Most of those hats didn't seem adjustable like ballcaps anyway, and to me they should've just made it a simple mold.  The Indy German Mechanic's hat is more appropriate, but that's me.

I'm not saying these things ruined the figures for me, but they knocked them down from being "top tier" figures to me.  Han's still the best Han, and the Fleet Trooper is still cool (and I'm picky on this guy as we all know), but the lack of a holster on a character who almost every single one that's given any serious screen time had a holster, is just BS. 

Removable vests/coats should just be a given in the line too.  I mean, POTF2 figures had this done right, and it looked great characters like Ponda Baba, or Ceremony Luke.
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Offline Nicklab

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Re: 2011 "Vintage" Collection Wave 7
« Reply #290 on: August 6, 2011, 11:26 AM »
I really think the sculpted-on jackets/vests these days are a BIG step back aesthetically.  That now means paint aps, and paint aps usually screw up any good sculpting that was done because they're never perfect.

I miss removable vests and separately sculpted jacket pieces.  That stuff gave not just visual depth, but it was actual physically separate so there was just a higher quality there.  People have overlooked that on these two figures, a lot.  It's as big a step backward as not including thigh-straps on holsters and things.

Some folks disagree, but to me you're paying more and the figures are getting more and more corners cut.  Hasbro shouldn't be doing that.


I miss the seperate vests, too.  It was a great feature on some of the older figures.

But I think the tooling costs for this new Rebel Fleet Trooper were already running to the high side.  There's a significant number of accessories:  helmet, hat, blaster, range finder & ammo strap.  Plus there's all of the articulation.  So in this case it appears that Hasbro made a tradeoff.  Sculpt the vest on and get more value elsewhere.
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Offline DoctorPadawan

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Re: 2011 "Vintage" Collection Wave 7
« Reply #291 on: August 6, 2011, 01:30 PM »
Still no sign of this wave at any of the big 3 in my area.  I was expecting Target to put them out along with their reset, but all we have are the same Sandtroopers, ROTS Clones, 2 Dengars, and a CCP that we've had since at least January.  Literally the only thing that has disappeared in that time were the yellow helmet ROTS Clones that the Hasbro rep pulled.  Ugh.

I'm probably going to wind up buying two of the Fordo figure (to display in both configurations) when I eventually find him, but was curious as to how easily removable the kama/skirt piece was.  I didn't know if taking it off required ripping the material itself.


Offline Diddly

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Re: 2011 "Vintage" Collection Wave 7
« Reply #292 on: August 6, 2011, 01:53 PM »
Doc P, while I haven't opened my Fordo yet, the pics I've seen online suggest it's a very simple process. The belts both snap on and off (best comparison I can think of is the belt from the original VOTC Luke) while the kama has an elastic band similar to the TVC General Lando cape.
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Offline Daigo-Bah

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Re: 2011 "Vintage" Collection Wave 7
« Reply #293 on: August 9, 2011, 11:42 AM »
Still no sign of this wave at any of the big 3 in my area.  I was expecting Target to put them out along with their reset, but all we have are the same Sandtroopers, ROTS Clones, 2 Dengars, and a CCP that we've had since at least January. 

I really don't want to succumb to douchebaggery, but I have to tell you how successful a particularly frowned upon technique was.  I call it the "Secondary Distribution System"  :P , and it works wonders at Target.  Reading about others who have had success, I decided to try it out.  One of my local Targets has had the same figures for who knows how long, with no wave 5, 6 or 7 showing up at all.  I went ahead and bought 10 of the oldest figures (primarily Dengars and 4-LOMs), and returned them to a Target well out of the way while on a mini vacation (now I know there's no real way to be sure you're not screwing another collector at that store you're dumping figures to, but I made SURE there was no one posting here or at RS that are anywhere near that particular location- I'm in southeast Louisiana).  Sure enough, 3 or 4 days later, my store gets in a wave 7 case (which is bought up by me and others), followed by a steady stream of wave 7 cases by need.  I got some more figures there again today.  Moral of the story is that two stagnant stores have been reduced to one.  We're talking no SW figure sales for MONTHS at both stores, and now, one of those stores has a steady stream of sales.  It works.  I don't want to resort to that, but distribution has never been worse, and perhaps Hasbro's figure selection and case breakdown is even a greater culprit.  So, I don't want to condone this (and I don't think I'll have to do it again) but it works.
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: 2011 "Vintage" Collection Wave 7
« Reply #294 on: August 9, 2011, 12:22 PM »
The Fordo belt/kama changing works perfectly.  They designed it pretty flawlessly, and better than any removable belt system in the past.
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Offline McMetal

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Re: 2011 "Vintage" Collection Wave 7
« Reply #295 on: August 9, 2011, 03:49 PM »
I really don't want to succumb to douchebaggery, but I have to tell you how successful a particularly frowned upon technique was.  I call it the "Secondary Distribution System"  :P , and it works wonders at Target.  Reading about others who have had success, I decided to try it out.  One of my local Targets has had the same figures for who knows how long, with no wave 5, 6 or 7 showing up at all.  I went ahead and bought 10 of the oldest figures (primarily Dengars and 4-LOMs), and returned them to a Target well out of the way while on a mini vacation (now I know there's no real way to be sure you're not screwing another collector at that store you're dumping figures to, but I made SURE there was no one posting here or at RS that are anywhere near that particular location- I'm in southeast Louisiana).  Sure enough, 3 or 4 days later, my store gets in a wave 7 case (which is bought up by me and others), followed by a steady stream of wave 7 cases by need.  I got some more figures there again today.  Moral of the story is that two stagnant stores have been reduced to one.  We're talking no SW figure sales for MONTHS at both stores, and now, one of those stores has a steady stream of sales.  It works.  I don't want to resort to that, but distribution has never been worse, and perhaps Hasbro's figure selection and case breakdown is even a greater culprit.  So, I don't want to condone this (and I don't think I'll have to do it again) but it works.

Yeah, I'm not sure I really get all the uproar about this technique. In most cases, it's not like the store getting the relocated figures were stocking anything new anyway. And if the store you took them from is restocking consistently since then, that seems like a win-win for everyone.

I actually did the opposite - I had a Target near me that was not doing anything with TVC, so I returned a couple of Wave 7 extras I had to there, they promptly sold, and this Target has since gotten 2 full cases of Wave 7. It's like I had to trick their computer into hitting that sold units threshold.
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: 2011 "Vintage" Collection Wave 7
« Reply #296 on: August 9, 2011, 04:10 PM »
I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but if you're dumping all the loser figures in another store that's trying to sell through stuff anyway, and the collector(s) in that area are trying to not do that and hoping things just move through natually, then it's not really a "win-win" for anyone at the store you dumped all those figures.

Again, not saying it's right or wrong, I'm just saying it's only a win-win for you at your store.  At the other store, it's really ****** for anyone who lives near/shops at that one and isn't doing the same thing to you.

Be nice to see retailers take a little initiative to move product on their own though, of course.  Sales seem to be few and far between anymore, yet they're clearly viable ways of moving things, while still making SOME profit, instead of just sitting with your thumb planted firmly up your bung for whatever reason.

My TRU's had literally a dozen or moreo f the new AOTC Clone...  the sale seems to have remedied that.
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Offline McMetal

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Re: 2011 "Vintage" Collection Wave 7
« Reply #297 on: August 9, 2011, 05:41 PM »
I think we're thinking of two different scenarios, Jesse. I do see your point, but I think we're not talking about dumping these at the BFE Target in some one horse town 100 miles from noplace. We're talking about dumping them at a Target, for example, that is probably within 20 miles of 5 other Targets.

The collectors in my area all hunt multiple stores, so putting one out of commission would theoretically free up all the other stores to order new inventory, and we all benefit. Hence my "win-win" comment. (But yes, this would require people branching out, which frankly everyone does around me anyway)

The idea being that it is better to have 5 stores with new product and 1 store hopelessly backlogged than to have 6 stores that are completely stagnant altogether.

I agree that in this scenario if some person were to only look for figures at the same store location over and over it would not help them in any way. But in my experience that is not how the SW geeks usually roll. They get around.

I have to say, I am not advocating anything one way or the other - I have never done this mostly due to the hassle and expense. But I don't think I understand how insanely angry some people get about this practice at other sites.

I think it's way worse to see things like that horrific TCW repack case shipping with the Flamethrower clone and a bunch of other garbage that should have been off the pegs months ago. That jams things up just as bad as any shady returns, only without the advantage for a benefit to other stores.

nuff said, I am seeing plenty of Wave 7 now so sort of seems like a moot point anyway, I guess.
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Offline Daigo-Bah

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Re: 2011 "Vintage" Collection Wave 7
« Reply #298 on: August 9, 2011, 07:13 PM »
I appreciate you guys not being hostile about it  ;), but I'll be the first to admit that it's not really a good practice to get into.  I've done this just once, feel a slight bit of guilt over it, but dang it worked!  Of course I mostly did it so I could get new figures, but I have to admit a big part of it is to benefit all collectors that frequent that store area (it's near the University at which I work).  I want our hobby to be healthy so that it has a long life to come (I always praise the army-builders out there like Darth Anton for this very reason!).  I wonder if a couple of those figures being re-purchsed at the dumping store would spark new case deliveries?
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Offline Matt_Fury

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Re: 2011 "Vintage" Collection Wave 7
« Reply #299 on: August 9, 2011, 07:35 PM »
Perhaps you could return the figures to the same store after they get new stuff in?
« Last Edit: August 9, 2011, 07:36 PM by Matt_Fury »
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