TLJ 3.75" BB-8 2-in-1 Mega Playset

[Nicklab]

Very cool report from Yakface about a TLJ playset.

[Jesse James]

What!?  No Snoke's Private Office and Lavatory stackable playset?  A failure and Hasblow doesn't understand collectors or love $.  They just want the line to fail!

 

Seriously this will be met with much rage I feel sure.

[Nicklab]

It's ironic that fans of toys can so completely lose sight of what makes them fun for kids.

[JediJman]

I hope this thing looks better than it sounds.  Sounds expensive and gimmickie.  That's a word.

[McMetal]

The only problem I have with it is that it should just be a playset. It doesn't need to "transform" into anything else. Just my two cents though.

[Matt_Fury]

Reminds me of the Episode One R2-D2 carry case/playset.

[Darby]

I'm curious to see how it turns out. I like this kind of thing, so it sounds fun to me. Don't how exciting a Star Destroyer bridge is (I kind of turned the vintage one into a flying barge or something as a kid) but we'll see.

[Jeff]

I'm curious to see how it turns out.

Same.  Holding off judgment until we know what exactly it is and how much it's gonna cost.

[Matt_Fury]

If the Star Destroyer bridge looks good, I'll get it for that.  I'll also need SA FO officers and crew to man it!

[Jesse James]

You will get Hux, and he'll be 5poa and you'll like it!

Seriously I'm not banking on greatness here, but I think for kids it'll probably be pretty fun.  I hope the adult collectors get that, but I bet not.  In the meantime I'll enjoy my GTP Space Walls thank you very much!

[Nicklab]

I'm hopeful that this might be interesting.  Info is going to be coming out in dribs and drabs before Force Friday.  It's just wait and see at this point.

[Scockery]

It's ironic that fans of toys can so completely lose sight of what makes them fun for kids.

Does something converting into a big version of something mostly unrelated to it make a fun toy? Maybe BB-8 rolls around a Star destroyer a lot in the film, but even if he does, what use is a large BB-8 in regards to other Hasbro toys?

I mean, if we'd have had a C-3PO bust that turned into the Emperor's throne room....we'd have appreciated the throne troom, maybe, but even as kids we would wonder what the point of the "giant" 3PO was.

[Nicklab]

It's ironic that fans of toys can so completely lose sight of what makes them fun for kids.

Does something converting into a big version of something mostly unrelated to it make a fun toy? Maybe BB-8 rolls around a Star destroyer a lot in the film, but even if he does, what use is a large BB-8 in regards to other Hasbro toys?

I mean, if we'd have had a C-3PO bust that turned into the Emperor's throne room....we'd have appreciated the throne troom, maybe, but even as kids we would wonder what the point of the "giant" 3PO was.

I remember in the vintage days how a lot of kids liked the Vader and C-3PO carrying cases.  They were cool ways of storing figures, and kind of doubled as display pieces.  I look at this BB-8 playset as something similar.

As for the concept?  I think kids aren't as locked into a concept like a playset being JUST A PLAYSET as much as adults may be.  I remember plenty of items from the Kenner vintage line that I or friends would re-purpose in other ways than as just a figure or just a vehicle, etc.

[Jesse James]

Yeah I think the utility of it being a playset and a large "companion" type toy like a stuffed animal but a non-stuffed thing...  it's possible it'll make noises or something.  I think the idea is there.  Like Nick said, a playset being something beyond just a playset I believe has some added play value.

[JediJman]

I think the challenge here is whether something needs to have the added design and production cost to transform into something else versus just being a great product on it's own.  I think it's "neat" that they want to make something that has transforming play value, but I firmly believe that they'd get a lot more mileage focusing on making it the best playset they can instead of a swiss army knife of deliverables.  In my head I keep seeing someone at Hasbro shooting down the plastic Death Star playset in favor of the E1 transforming R2 carrying case and I get where some people are frustrated.  I'll wait and see and maybe it will be surprisingly cool, but I wouldn't bet odds on it.