Obi-Wan's Blue Jedi Starfighter

[DoctorPadawan]

I actually got my Obi-Wan JSF today from Amazon.com, thus bringing this whole preorder confusion to a conclusion.  The item itself is pretty cool, but then again, I really like the design of the ROTS JSFs, so I'm pretty biased.  However, as seems to be the recurring theme in my life lately, things still managed to be a bit irritating.

First of all, and most important to everyone here, like Jared, my JSF also included the label sheet for the mass market Anakin JSF (the yellow/gray one) instead of the proper colors.  I've already emailed Hasbro about this, so I'll keep everyone updated on what they say about it.  Most of the "set" labels would be okay, but the "kills" stickers would look ridiculous (what with the yellow clashing with the blue; these are the ones along the lines of tally-marks for Tri-Fighters and so on), and the droid sticker (which is for R2-D2) wouldn't look right with R4-G9's gold and silver head sticking out of a blue body.

Secondly, and this is just me, Hasbro apparently didn't do a good job of lining up the top and bottom halves of the ship all that well in the assembly process, because the left wing was so warped from being set wrong that the missle woudn't fire, there was a small gap between the body halves that could not be fixed, and when the wings would open, they were kind of "floppy" if you get my drift.  Amazon was extremely cool (as their customer service always is) and gave me a prepaid shipping label to send it back to them, as well as shipped a replacement out to me within an hour of talking to them, and it will arrive Thursday.  Hooray for going that extra mile, Amazon, and kudos!

And to close, Nick I'm right there with you on the cockpit stickers.  Even though I think my hands are a normal size, it's still really hard to get the stickers in some of the cockpits, especially those long ones that are supposed to go on either side of the seat and up the walls.  Even using tweezers to put them in doesn't seem to work that well.  My SP Anakin fighter doesn't have those two tall stickers in the cockpit at all, and I don't know how I managed to get Obi-Wan's in there. 

Nothing in sticker hell can compare, however, to putting the wallpaper up straight in the Naboo Royal Starship from the Episode I line.  I still have nightmares about that ordeal.

[Jayson]

I picked up the vehicle today and noticed that on the back of the box shows the red Astro droid. but the pack-in droid is actually gold. I guess the photoshop guys in the packaging dept at the Big H. missed that, which is par for the course for them.

[Pete_Fett]

DP - definitely keep us apprised of what you find out from Hasbro. I think ALL of the TRU Exclusive Blue Jedi Starfighter w/Obi-Wan sets come with the sticker sheet from the Anakin regular release Jedi Starfighter.

I didn't apply on mine the kill sticker or any of the additional "damage/wear" stickers.

I did put the emblem for Obi-Wan's Open-Circle fleet on as well as the Republic/Empire logo.

Just so the R4 droid had SOMETHING on him, I went ahead and applied the R2 stickers, but I'm hoping that we'll be able to ask Hasbro to send us replacement sheets and I can just remove those stickers and apply the new ones.

If I was an exec at TRU and I found out about this, I'd be pissed that an exclusive we were offering wasn't 100% perfect.

The thing I find weird is that the stickers for the TRU Green Anakin fighter came with the stickers pre-applied. I wonder why they DIDN'T do this for this vehicle? Typically a retailer exclusive vehicle in a window-box will have all decals applied.

[DoctorPadawan]

The UPS man just brought me the "replacement" JSF, and this one had no assembly problems, so I can now say I actually have it.  Kudos to Amazon for doing an extremely quick turnaround on the replacement and for taking the defective one back.  Even though they'll never read this, it goes to prove that despite their stock status and preorder system being so bad, their customer service is still the best in the online etailer world.

And to (kind of) contradict that, I still haven't heard a peep from Hasbro about the JSF label issue that I emailed them about on Tuesday.  I ended up applying all the interior cockpit labels (and I got them in there straight!  Yay me!) and the Open Circle logos, but I held off on the R4/R2 stickers for now.  He looks a little silly sitting there all naked, but I'd rather have him naked and incomplete than dressed and not color coordinated.

(If that thread in Watto's about quoting your fellow posters out of context is still there, that last sentence needs to be archived) 

But anyway, no word from Hasbro yet.  The thing that makes me think they won't do anything about it (aside from it, you know, requiring them to put forth actual effort) is the old "Product colors may vary" tagline on the back of the box.  In my email, I pointed out to them that the tagline should not apply as while the ship is fine, if applied, the labels would make it appear to be even junkier and slapped together than the "used future" that SW ships have already.  Who knows if they'll respond since, you know, they would have to admit they made a mistake before they corrected it, and we all know how good they are about admitting mistakes. 

[DoctorPadawan]

Well, it looks like we're all ******.  I just got this reply from Hasbro Consumer Affairs regarding the Anakin sticker sheets in the Obi-Wan fighter:

Thank you for taking the time to contact us.

The product you refer to is a store exclusive. Because an exclusive product is manufactured for a particular retailer, we are not allowed to sell it through any other outlet, including direct sales to the consumer from the manufacturer. We are also unable to obtain any replacement parts.

Since your satisfaction is extremely important to us, we will be pleased to arrange an exchange for you for an alternative product of similar value.

We will send, to the address you provided, a postage paid mailing label to cover the cost of returning the product to us.

We hope this resolution is satisfactory. Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can provide further assistance.

So, in other words, "We make the toy, but since it was made specifically for Toys R Us, it's not our responsibility, even though we were the ones who screwed up."   

Once again, Hasbro blames retail for their own stupidity.

I'm trying to find out contact information for Toys R Us right now so I can discuss this matter with them.  More to come.

[DoctorPadawan]

And now, ladies and gentlemen, my email I just sent to Hasbro.  Due to the endless calls from these idiots at Marketlink for the last week (thanks Cable Company!), I was already in a foul mood, but I think I kept it more or less civil.

With all due respect, I do not understand how a toy made by Hasbro can be "out of your hands."  I am well aware of the rules and regulations that surround retailer exclusives, however the inclusion of another item's sticker sheet is not the fault of the retailer, but the fault of the manufacturer.  Given that this is a widespread problem (I have yet to hear from anyone who has gotten the correct sticker sheet with the item), I am hoping you will reconsider making these replacement label sheets available to not only myself, but to the many others who will be buying this product and finding disappointment awaiting them as they seek to add detail to the item.

I will be contacting Toys R Us Corporate to speak with them about this matter, as Hasbro seems to feel that they should not take responsibility for their manufacturing mistakes and instead blame a retailer for not somehow knowing exactly what is in a sealed bag that is not visible inside the toy box.

EDITED FOR TRU STORY:

So, I contacted TRU to ask them about the problem.  Bless the guy I talked to for putting up with my rambling incoherence, but his response was exactly what I had been expecting to hear when I found the phone number.  Basically, whether it is an exclusive item or not, he said that if a product has a manufacturing defect or problem, the manufacturer is responsible for the product if the defect is out of the retailer's control.  He suggested that I contact Hasbro again and restate the problem, but that TRU's responsibility is for the sale of the product (and all that entails, like returns, exchanges, etc) and not for manufacturing flaws.  A very nice young man and he was patient with me, so thumbs up to him.

So, now I'm at a point where I (and you) will probably not be getting the proper and appropriate sticker sheet for this toy, because Hasbro is sticking to its traditional "It's Never Our Fault; Blame Everyone Else" mantra.  At this point, unless they get deluged with complaints about the label sheet mistake, I don't think they'll even address it or care about it.   

[SilverZ]

Glad you're valiant enough to go through that hell. It's the cheapest thing in the world that they've done with that sticker sheet, and they should be ashamed. Tacky.

I'm considering PS'ing a new sticker sheet by scanning the existing sheet and knocking around the colors. Unfortunately, I just put my scanner in storage today. Anyone have the sheet and can scan it, or know of a place that already has it done?

[DoctorPadawan]

Jared, I don't have a scanner, but I'd be more than happy to mail you the "remains" of the sticker sheet (with the "kill marks" and the droid body front/back still on it), if it would be helpful.  All I ask is a hookup on the finished, correctly-colored sticker sheet since my printer sucks.

As for being valiant, it wasn't so much that as it was "sick up and fed" of Hasbro half-assing everything that they're doing for the rest of the year, post-56.  Between the horrible shipping, the equally horrible situation at retail, and their lack of interest or concern in rectifying either situation, I was more than motivated to go through the experience.

I'm actually wondering how long it is until Hasbro says that TRU requested the Anakin sticker sheet to be included with Obi-Wan's JSF when their "We can't violate the retailer exclusive" excuse runs dry.   

[DoctorPadawan]

Sorry to commit thread necromancy with useless information, but I was just looking at the four JSFs (Anakin SP, Obi-Wan, Anakin TRU, and Obi-Wan TRU) all lined up alongside each other and I noticed something really unusual about the TRU version as compared to the other three.  It's really difficult to describe it without pictures, but I will do my best.

Both of the mass market Anakin and Obi-Wan fighters have unique paint schemes and the battle damage (the black marks that cover the ship to simulate wear and tear) are also unique to each of the fighters.  Even Anakin's headrest in the cockpit differs from Obi-Wan's in a significant way.  The point I'm making here is that while they are still essentially repaints of one another's ships, the mass market ships are completely repainted.

The TRU Anakin JSF, obviously, is recast and repainted in new colors, and the headrest in the cockpit is different (this time being the one from the Obi-Wan mass market JSF).  The thing that is interesting (and that has already been pointed out by Nicklab earlier in this thread) is that the stickers for this JSF exclusive were preapplied for the window box presentation.  Also interesting (and this will have a bearing on the Obi-Wan JSF exclusive in a moment) is the fact that the battle damage on the TRU Anakin JSF is completely different from the battle damage detailing on the mass market Anakin and Obi-Wan JSFs.  So, while it is a repaint, it is just as unique as the two mass market JSFs as it regards detailing.

Which brings me to the TRU Obi-Wan JSF exclusive.  Now, we all know that the sticker sheet included is totally incorrect and Hasbro is attempting to sidestep the issue (if you aren't aware of this, go up a few posts and read my previous whining on the subject).  It's been suggested that Hasbro is being cheap by including the mass market AJSF sticker sheet with this toy, but it appears that the cheapness goes far beyond even that.

First of all, no recasting appears to have been done, and they simply used the TRU AJSF white body to create this one, which I have no problem with.  Base color, reuse it when you can, no big deal.  The problem however is that Hasbro has reused the exact same battle damage template for the TRU OWJSF as they did on the mass market Anakin JSF.  So, not only does it have the sticker sheet from that toy, it also sports the same paint applications and detailing of the MM AJSF.  The only point where the layout of the design differs is in the wing panels, which are the exact same template as the mass market OWJSF.  So, if it weren't for the R4-G9 head on this ship, Hasbro made no sculpting or detailing changes to the toy whatsoever.  All they did was switch yellow/gray to blue/white, slap a new droid head on the astromech body, and be done with it.

I'm beginning to wonder if this ship wasn't literally slapped together at the 11th hour when Hasbro finally saw the film.  The Mustafar/Green fighter of Anakin's is actually in production photos in various publications, but I have yet to see one close up photo of the Utapau fighter anywhere (the only one that ever comes up is the POV of the MagnaGuard when Obi-Wan lands).  With Hasbro including the wrong sticker sheet, the wrong droid appearing in the droid socket on the box, and the rather telling reuse of previously employed paint application templates, the lower price as compared to the TRU Anakin fighter is beginning to become a little clearer.

[proudfather2]

Thanks for the great observations and information DoctorPadawan! I knew very little of that, and I have all four ships as well. I guess I'll have to air brush some more 'damage' onto one of the vehicles that have utilized the same battle-damage paint template. Still haven't come up with a good solution for the R4 stickers. The rest of the vehicle stickers I will exacto and make-do.

[Jesse James]

Dr. P (or anyone), can you do me a favor and take some measurements of the JSF for me?  Any of them would be fine of course.

Wing-tip to Wing-tip, nose to tail, and if you can get a "height" measurement I'd appreciate it but it'd be a bit more difficult to get accurately I know.

Thanks!

[DoctorPadawan]

Wingspan: 10.5 inches (measured across top of ship); 10.25 inches (measured across bottom of ship)

Length of ship:  12.5 inches (from tip of the guns on nose to the end of the engines on the back)

Height: 4.1 inches (with landing gear extended)

Any other measurements you need, Jesse?

[Darth_Anton]

Another thing:  the price.  I got the Anakin fighter for $29.99 less than a month ago.  today I bought the Obi-Wan fighter and it was $24.99.  Is anyone finding this lack of consistency a little weird, or is it just me?

This isn't weird, it's annoying. I just goes to show that price is not actually based in realtion to cost.

[Rob]

How about this for even more inconsistent....

I bought Anakin's for 29.99 back when it came out.

Then my friend bought the Blue Obi-Wan one for $24.99 when it first hit shelves.

Then last night I found a blue obi-wan starfighter and bought it, and it rang up for $29.99

What's the deal?!

[Pete_Fett]

Ok - well I had taken the time to post a complaint to the Hasbro website. I first got an e-mail telling me that they would be happy to send the corrected label sheet. Then yesterday in the mail I received a letter stating that the part I was looking for was unavailable and I would not be receiving a new label sheet afterall.

So basically Hasbro purposefully put the WRONG label sheet with these fighters and has NO INTENTION of providing correct ones.

Nice.