How are you feeling?

[SilverZ]

Wow, I'm actually surprised to see so many fellow diehards sharing recent burn-out stories. I'm just barely back into the swing of things after a few months of complete burn-out. I think my personal reason was that the thrill of the hunt was missing. It simply got TOO hard to find new figures that, frankly, I wasn't that excited about. I ended up ordering cases more this year than ever before, and even the joy of cracking open the figs was pretty much nullified by the sheer craptasticness of the Boba Fett wave, which was a new low for the line. If the pattern had continued any longer, 2018 was just about impossible, since I would have been out entirely by 2004. Thankfully, like everyone else, I think the late 03 and into 04 lineup is looking to be back on track for POTJ-era goodness, thankfully. I share OCB's sentiment that sometimes it feels more like obligation to continue than out of a passion. I'm happy the future looks better, but Hasbro should take a long hard look at the Saga's first year when they hit the next movie year in '05, and take a different approach at bringing kids/maintstream into the line without alienating collectors.

[Jesse James]

In answer to Mosnab,

I don't collect many toy lines, but I will tell ya what, I DROOL over the anticipation (And it's always way too long) of getting new 21st Century action figures...  Or the tease of new vehicles that I want like the troop truck.

They keep me on the edge of my seat, and if you think Hasbro's distribution sucks you've not seen 21st.  They have real problems (But it IS the retailers fault in their case, because TRU is backing out on their deal due to backlash from anti-german groups).

BBi's new stuff is shipping to Toys R Us stores as we speak too, and I cannot say enough about BBi's quality.  It's another line I'm die-hard for now.

And Dragon may only seem to make German 1:6 figures, but they're so great...  I mean, sure they're becoming redundant at this point but I want all of them for some reason, haha...  Their U.S. are the best IMO, but not as common.  I'd love to own them all if I could afford that or have the space.

Star Wars though, it's tough to find, it's been a year of NOT really interesting stuff save a great figure here and there...  It's just disappointing, and then the burn-out sets in.

[Rob]

I was worried.  But after seeing the new product hasbro has in line for the rest of 2003 and into 2004 I'm not.

The word now is that there will be no more films after E3 is done...but I have a cautiosly optomistic feeling that Lucas will go on - if he can find a way to do so.

I feel this way, because George Lucas loves making money.

And he can make much more of it with films to make.  He says he doesn't want to be doing this until he's 70, but lets face it, SW is his life's work.

If he makes another trilogy, the toys will continue probably until at least 2015.

If he stops after E3, the line will probably die out around 2007 or so.

If it survives beyond the movies, it would have to be strongly geared towards collectors - ideally meaning POTJ style sculpting and new characters...  There would also probably be way fewer figures released every year...

Either way, I've started finding new product recently and am overall pretty happy with the line - the Clone Wars toys aside

[Darth Broem]

I can't see Lucas himself putting another trilogy out there with the familiar characters we know.  For one thing he is starting to get up there.  The fans and critics have been quite vocal of their overall disproval of the PT so far.  Plus the story basically ended with ROTJ.  Even if he wanted to continue it with something like the Zahn Trilogy all of the original actors are too old now.  I think that the window of opportunity left a long time ago.  I doubt the public would warm up to all new actors/actresses as Luke, Han, Leia if that route was taken.  

However, I could possibly see him letting another director create a story set in a different time period and slapping the Star Wars label on it.  I would think they would wait about 5 or 6 years before starting it to build up anticipation.  

I just have the feeling the line will die around a year after Ep3.  We may get a small token line for awhile after that.  

[Nicklab]

There's still some ground left to cover in the Original Trilogy, but yes, it does seem more geared towards improvements.  There are very few things that haven't been done that need to be touched on in some form or another.  

The prequel trilogy has a lot of ground that can be covered in the toy lines.  EPISODE I alone has a lot to offer in that area.  Just look at the podrace, and you've got a bunch of vehicles, and a bunch of aliens to pick from.  The same holds true with the Coruscant Nightclub in EPISODE II.

As for how things will carry over following 2005?  I don't know.  We'll have to wait and see.  If Hasbro can continue to put forth some good ideas, then maybe I'll stay interested.  A lot also depends upon what good old GL has in store for fans.