Yeah, this is starting to get
really old now. I was sure we'd start seeing the removal of the
dreaded action features by now, but with the recent change to the upcoming Boba Fett figure, this is obviously not yet the case. I was praying that this year, a non-movie year, would equate to a return to a POTJ-like line, more geared towards the "collectors" and/or adults, rather than the eight year old kids. No action features, more articulation, better sculpting, more background/obscure characters, more Original Trilogy characters, etc.....
I can tolerate the less than exciting packaging, if it means transferring some of Hasbro's resources into the actual figure or figure cost instead. Don't know if either of those two scenarios are actually happening though. I've always wanted a return to the Vintage style cardbacks though (as well as card fronts), which kept a beautiful running checklist, with a visual picture of every figure released in the line to date. Unfortunately, that'll never happen, since Hasbro wants to use the cardbacks to show off all of their "awesome" action features instead.
As far as overall cost goes though, I'd be thrilled to pump out another dollar or two for each figure
if it meant getting a
BETTER product, with better sculpting, paint detail and application, articulation, neutral poses, movie accurate (no action features), less rehashes, stronger plastic, etc. Some nice, authentic O.T. playsets are also badly needed (Cantina, Death Star, Jabba's Palace).
I also don't buy into the idea that the 4" line is just too small to properly articulate or sculpt figures in. Hasbro has proven that they can do it with some figures like 300th Fett (despite stance), Ephant Mon, Palpatine, and Bespin Luke (though his wash paint job sucked).
We recently learned that Hasbro apparently
does pay attention to the online SW forums, when they announced the Fan Choice winner, and said they've "heard a lot of rumblings" about potential voting fraud. Well, the only place they could've found that out about our rumblings is by reading through the various site's forums. So if they're indeed perusing the forums, why oh why can't the see the rest of our thoughts in here, and notice the incredible hatred that we all have for the action features, and some of our other gripes as well...
I realize that there's an inherent production time for each figure, and that some figures may have already been in the manufacturing process long ago, when our action feature gripes first started up with the release of the new Saga line, and therefore nothing could be done for them at that point. But, I think that we've passed that point now with some of the future waves that we're starting to get sneak peeks of now. The action feature gripes should've been heard loud and clear by the time this new Fett went into production, which proves to me that they're not going away yet... Hopefully soon though.
But with the upcoming release of the
Clone Wars line, and rumored accompanying animated series on one of the kids cable channels, that just might mean that Hasbro will still be shooting for the kids market for quite a while to come. I pray that I'm wrong about that though...
Is it too late for Lucas to grant the figure license to another company, so we could just start all over again from scratch...
BTW, I collect
only Star Wars, but when I pass some of those other figure lines in the toy aisles, I often find myself stopping to stare and marvel at what they have to offer, and scratching my head wondering how Hasbro can be so far behind the curve. I love those Muppet figures and some of their Playsets are amazing! After 25 years of collecting (with a few years off in the late 80's), is it too late for me to switch allegiances to something else?
Please wake up Hasbro. This (Saga) nightmare has gone on long enough...
