TVC Rogue One Imperial Assault Tank

[Scockery]

Hopefully the package folds up in the cardboard tank, too. Two tanks for one! 

[Mister Skeezler]

Sold!

I'd love to see a return to the "big" vehicles again. The BMF is still one of my favorite pieces in my collection. Ditto the BAT-AT.

[StBrianOfMinneapolis]

I was just reading one person's speculation that the TVC Imperial hovertank might be hard to find or sell quickly. Im a bit motivated after comparing this idea with what other things have been said by you guys that some scalpers were buying up the 6" speeder wave with Luke and Rey in the first week of release.

So, what do you guys think? Will the first wave of these tanks so pretty quickly and then pile up after that? Either way I think I'm going to grab mine when it comes out.

[Darby]

I personally think the tank is overpriced. I think the market will as well, and like with the 6 inch vehicles, Centerpiece lines and other ostensibly collector focused ancillary products, this is going to suffer. I don't want it to, because its great and I want to see more. I understand the costs that go into the tooling and other considerations, but given what we've seen with the AT-ST at WM just recently I have concerns about the viability of expensive vehicles at retail. If it's a launch item for Solo, and ships in high quantity you will see a repeat of the Speeder assortment. If it's a holiday item and more limited in production, maybe it works. I can't think of a single segment from any line going right now that has been successful at a price point above $30. Not including LEGOs. I'm not plugged into everything, so if others have comments about that or ideas on the tank, I'm all ears.

[Rob]

Every time I don't buy something at retail, I end up paying through the nose for it later.  So when I see one, I'll probably just pick it right up.

I agree about the price, but I'm excited that it's at least a new vehicle, that's at a decent scale, and has some detail to it..

[Muftak]

I am really excited to watch the shelf-life of this product unfold. Will it disappear quickly? Will it linger? Will it be a regional thing? Will it come in an assortment of previously-released "Vintage" styled vehicles at the same price? No one knows at this point, but the result will have big implications for the future of the vehicle assortment...

Vehicles have never really been my thing and I don't really put them out on display, so I can be a bystander here more or less. I am surprised the pricing of this thing comes up so often in the discussion so far. 80 bucks might be more than you've ever paid for a mid-sized vehicle before, but it's still only the cost of 6 "Vintage" line action figures, so it's not beyond reason. And it has the incredible level of detailing so far above what the Disney-era/post-Chinese manufacture vehicles have had...I am floored by the separate rubber treads (when was the last time you saw something like that?) I mean, just the three kyber crates are $30 worth of engineering and plastic these days...

My advice would be if you want to see vehicles like this in the future, you need to get serious about recalibrating your pricepoint expectations and supporting the Hovertank at retail at $80. If you love it but wait for clearance anyway, you'll be telling Hasbro to not bother developing high-end "collector's" toys anymore. After the death of the 6" TIE fighter (a piece no one asked for, no one bought, and no one has since asked for a line-continuation of) Hasbro really seems to be listening and trying to give the fans exactly the toy they are asking for.

Like I said though, as a student of all of this, I can't wait to see how the history of this toy shakes out.

[Darby]

My advice would be if you want to see vehicles like this in the future, you need to get serious about recalibrating your pricepoint expectations and supporting the Hovertank at retail at $80.

I think you're absolutely right about this, and that's why none of this working. The legacy market let's call it of collectors like ourselves that have been lifers more or less are clinging to a lot more than the hobby; we're clinging to expectations of value. The reality is that the cost of manufacturing these things has become almost prohibitive. Almost, because Hasbro is making determined efforts to continue to provide products that are the core of the play pattern despite substantial price increases. AT-ST - was $30. Now $60. But the market has voted and they don't think these things are worth that much. That's why a $20 Rathtar is dead money. A $60 Landspeeder. A $50 statue of Darth Vader. Now there are tons of factors at play here, don't get me wrong. But a large one and maybe the largest is that most people don't think they're getting the value. Hover Tank could be an exception. We'll see.

[Nicklab]

I agree that Hasbro and retailers are going to watch how this piece sells closely.  While I do try to find some good deals in order to make the most of my collecting budget, this is a piece that could be something of a bell-weather indicator for more intricately detailed vehicles.  That's probably why Hasbro has gone to such lengths to show collectors the development process for this particular offering.

There have been some duds at higher price points though.  The 6" TBS Centerpiece Collection is a clear example of that.  I had ZERO interest in those two pieces at $50.  But get the prices around $30, and then I might be interested.

[CorranHorn]

While they showed amazing renderings and prototypes at last year's cons, there is still the chance that manufacturing costs will reduce the intricacy of the Hovertank. This is my biggest concern and it certainly has precedent - we'll expect something amazing and it won't turn out that way but still be high priced.

I hope I am wrong, but I think back to that amazing R2 they showed at the announcement of the Black Series. What they kept showing us and then what we got were far different and extremely disappointing.

[Matt_Fury]

When I see it, I'll buy it.  Do I wish it was $0 instead of $80?  Sure...but I've not purchased a lot of Hasbro Star Wars over the last few years because I didn't like the quality.

This one seems worth it to me.

[Jesse James]

Just throwing this in.... it’s not a hovertank.  It’s tracked with working treads actually.  Just pointing it out cuz that’s part of the cost too (the working tracks and wheels).

I have some more to say but I think everyone has been fairly accurate except on the overpriced part.  At least in the sense that I don’t think you can do this for less without sacrificing a good bit.  Oh and it’s not just well scaled, it’s to scale, which happens more often than people think but it is quite spot on with this one and per Hasbro when discussing it.

I have more to add when I have time to gather a thought.

[GrandMoffNick]

I'm super excited for this. I'm getting one first time I see it.

I think it is going to be the textbook toy of where the hobby is now. The production costs into it are what people have been clamoring for, but most won't pay retail for it.

And the vicious cycle continues

[P-Siddy]

I'll get it right away too.

Now to figure out how many of each kind of tank personnel I'll need.

[JediJman]

I think it well sell well, even at the $80 price.  That said, I don't think its going to fly off the shelves.  There are some hard core collectors and probably scalpers who will pick it up, but just buying four of them for $350 with tax is a heck of an investment.  Someone compared this to the 6 inch vehicles getting scalped - those have been pretty easy to find outside of the first few weeks (at least near me).

[Jeff]

I have some more to say but I think everyone has been fairly accurate except on the overpriced part.  At least in the sense that I don’t think you can do this for less without sacrificing a good bit.  Oh and it’s not just well scaled, it’s to scale, which happens more often than people think but it is quite spot on with this one and per Hasbro when discussing it.

I think it is going to be the textbook toy of where the hobby is now. The production costs into it are what people have been clamoring for, but most won't pay retail for it.

And the vicious cycle continues

I agree with both of you - $80 is 'over-priced' for what most people are wanting to pay, but not for the reality of what it actually costs to give us a thing as nice as this tank is reported to be.

I'm sure there will be a rabid audience that will cause initial sell-outs, but then there will be a huge chunk that waits...  and based on the fact that the 6" vehicles (TIE, Reyspeeder, Landspeeder) and the big 3.75" play-sets (TFA Falcon, AT-ACT, TLJ BB-8 playset) saw deep discounts, I can't blame them either.

I'm lucky enough to be able to afford to plunk down $80 on a luxury like a Star Wars toy.  There are a lot of people who can't do that and have to either miss out or hope for clearance/sales.  That's the reality and the bummer of an $80 toy.  I'm not going to **** on someone who wants to or has to wait.  It's unfortunate it could affect our ability to get more of these things in the future, but that is where the line is now.

You pay the premium ($14) to get a premium figure or you pay the cheap rate ($8) and get a really nice 5POA figure.  You pay the $40 and get a bare bones Ski Speeder or you pay $80 and get a Hover Assault Tank with real working treads and storage crates with tiny deco'd kyber crystals. It sucks that there isn't a middle option or we can't go back in time when chinese manufacture was still peanuts.  As the saying goes, it is what it is.