Author Topic: The Future of Star Wars Collecting?  (Read 236462 times)

Offline CHEWIE

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Re: The Future of Star Wars Collecting?
« Reply #330 on: March 27, 2013, 10:59 AM »
Yeah, I'm exhausted by all the pilots too - have been for a while now. 

The thing that makes it worse for me is when they keep using that Luke body over and over - I don't like that sculpt.  The only reason I bought the TRU Rebel pack was for the Porkins.

I also agree on Needa's legs.  They are pretty bad.

Offline Jesse James

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Re: The Future of Star Wars Collecting?
« Reply #331 on: March 27, 2013, 01:38 PM »
Could've done without Luke's body on 2 pilots in a set too...  Needed to use Red 10.  Not everyone in the Alliance is 5'8" or less.
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Offline Brian

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Re: The Future of Star Wars Collecting?
« Reply #332 on: April 17, 2013, 08:51 PM »
Just judging from the news of a Star Wars movie every year starting in 2015, the future of Star Wars collecting just became....never ending :).  I'm excited at the prospects of what we might see (seems more likely that all those spin off/solo movies that were rumored could be true, along with the new trilogy), but it really could lead to a LOT of stuff overall if we continued to buy most to all of it.  I know my collecting "room" is already full, and this type of news makes me want to plan ahead already.  I guess it all depends on the quality, quantity, and mindset at the time these movies are released.

Offline Jesse James

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Re: The Future of Star Wars Collecting?
« Reply #333 on: April 17, 2013, 09:05 PM »
The question is, will it be similar to Iron Man? :P

Star Wars is, to me, a lot more character rich visually than most super hero movies are, but I'm just more worried about what could be coming, or not coming, even with all these new movies.
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Offline speedermike

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Re: The Future of Star Wars Collecting?
« Reply #334 on: April 19, 2013, 12:10 AM »
I guess the danger of a new film is that there will only be time for top-tier, main characters.  With such a short window before the next film arrives, Hasbro might not have time to go deep with selection.

On the other hand, maybe they will just do one big release when the film hits (May) and one more round in the Fall for the holidays.  It would make for easy shopping.

From a rough count, I believe that there were over 70 basic figures in 2005.

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Offline Jesse James

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Re: The Future of Star Wars Collecting?
« Reply #335 on: April 22, 2013, 08:44 PM »
Compared to other film franchises I could see Hasbro going nuts on character selection honestly, but I don't know if I'd like that really...  I just worry things getting sloppy with the line in general.  Going back to 2002 type stuff, or just POTF2 levels of quality really.  I know it's the sort of hipster thing to long for "the good old days" but to me it took so long to get this line to where quality was almost always up at the top...

So to that end the "premium" line shipping along a sort of sub-premium line works better I think...  Just hope that keeps up.  Worrying it might end, and things may look a lot more like, say, Iron Man on the shelves.
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Re: The Future of Star Wars Collecting?
« Reply #336 on: April 23, 2013, 08:16 AM »
And with new source material, will it be harder to get that "15th Cantina patron?"

Offline Jeff

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Re: The Future of Star Wars Collecting?
« Reply #337 on: April 23, 2013, 10:05 AM »
Worrying it might end, and things may look a lot more like, say, Iron Man on the shelves.

I think Episode 7 toy line will look a lot like the current Marvel approach actually.  Would not surprise me in the least to see that current planogram build for SW too - $6 basic figures, $10 deluxe style figures, some vehicles, the ugly 12" figures, etc.  They've already started moving towards it with the stuff/lines they have planned for fall. 

And with new source material, will it be harder to get that "15th Cantina patron?"

Yeah, that's one of the big outstanding questions, isn't it?  If Hasbro continues the "premium" basic figure line for collectors in 2015, will it focus entirely on the new movie(s) or will it be more like Marvel Universe that mixes in both new comic figures and classic comic figure/costumes?

I can see the argument for both I guess.  During the prequels, there were definitely periods when the OT figures took a backseat to the new.  If that pattern continues and you have a situation with a new movie each year, there could definitely be a long break for OT/PT figures as they work on the new stuff.  Or, they could set it up like Marvel Universe, that continues to crank out whatever they want to give collectors independent of the movie lines.

It will be interesting to see which way they decide to go with the collector lines (3.75" and 6"):   "all sequels" or "happy mixture of OT/PT/ST"?
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Re: The Future of Star Wars Collecting?
« Reply #338 on: April 23, 2013, 12:35 PM »
Everything is such a 'wait and see' right now.  It just doesn't feel like there is a 'future' for SW stuff right now (at least Hasbro-wise) because there is nothing new on the shelves until August and that feels like a long time coming.  It's like the saying goes, "Out of sight, out of mind."  The mindset will change once new stuff starts hitting and the movies come, but right now it's tough.


Offline Phrubruh

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Re: The Future of Star Wars Collecting?
« Reply #339 on: April 24, 2013, 09:15 AM »
I think we are going to see all sequel figures with multiple variations of the core "new" characters. I don't think we will see a lot of Luke, Leia, Han figures but of the new stars the sequels will focus on. Every other movie-based toy line only has the main characters and very rarely do we see the supporting characters. I don't think we will ever see weird alien #6 ever again.
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Online Muftak

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Re: The Future of Star Wars Collecting?
« Reply #340 on: April 24, 2013, 11:38 PM »
But of course there is an economy of scale to consider. If we get a new movie every summer, the chances that anybody would want an exhaustive collection of figures from any one movie is pretty nil. There's simply no time to gain an attachment to the background characters from last year's movie when you're poring over behind the scenes photos of next year's big event. At the same time I would expect some of these movies we've all cherished for 30 years to continue to have some support, albeit scaled waaaaaaaay back. We may never see prequel figures again.

Gauging by what was done for ROTS in its one year, we could see quite a depth to any single movie's line...with the caveat that Hasbro basically took a year off to prepare for that one.

Hasbro could give us a solid fifty 5POA figures a year for as long as the movies last, timing big pushes to spring/summer for the theater release and the holidays for the home movie purchase. That would leave room for some classic figures to take up some slots, maybe in waves that hit in the fall or new year.

...or we could see 20 different versions of Boba Fett (a la Iron Man) when his movie comes out. And, y'know, somebody here is gonna be thrilled by that prospect.

Offline Brian

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Re: The Future of Star Wars Collecting?
« Reply #341 on: April 25, 2013, 07:50 PM »
As far as the future, with movies coming every year, I think we could see a Marvel like approach as well.  Like it was said, it is already moving that way and I think it is probably a more profitable approach for Hasbro right now.  As far as character depth, I could see a vintage like approach in a way there too (like, real vintage).  Focus on the main characters and sprinkle in interesting looking aliens, etc.  Honestly - and maybe it is the nostalgia of it - but the vintage line(s) seemed to cover what was necessarily pretty well overall.  Sure, more is always better, but aside from a few characters (Tarkin, Stormtrooper Han, Jabba's Leia, RFT, etc.) they seemed to cover the most important stuff pretty well.  I could see the same approach with new lines.  Disney in particular seems most interested in OT era/feel stuff, and would maybe push for an approach like this.

I do wonder how much prequel stuff we'll see.  As mentioned by Muftak, we may be seeing the end of that stuff eventually.  It really seems like they are glossing over that era as much as possible right now, although some of it might be coincidental.  I do think there is a pretty good chance that with all the characters we've seen done over the past few years, that our best chance for OT (or even PT) characters might be the 6" line (if that succeeds).  It is definitely going to be interesting to see how things go once the new movie(s) start ramping up.

Offline speedermike

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Re: The Future of Star Wars Collecting?
« Reply #342 on: April 26, 2013, 06:09 PM »
I get the impression that Disney will almost ignore the prequels.  They want to recapture the "magic" of the OT.  Granted, that's impossible, but they can dream can't they.  I mean, I always wanted to see a SW film directed by Spileberg, and since Abrams has no style of his own, and simply want to be SS, I'll get my wish.
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Offline shmashwitdaclub

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Re: The Future of Star Wars Collecting?
« Reply #343 on: April 30, 2013, 11:18 AM »
when will "new" product start hitting the shelves? By "new" I mean black series wave 1 or a new exclusive or something.  I am at a loss for the timeline of releases for upcoming Star Wars product.

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Re: The Future of Star Wars Collecting?
« Reply #344 on: April 30, 2013, 02:03 PM »
August, per Toy Fair.