I should have had my friend scan one this morning. He called me from Walmart, holding a set, wanting to know exactly what it was. He’s a casual collector. His confusion brought out every problem that set has and just what a failure it’s turned out to be. I tried explaining to him that it was a Walmart exclusive and that he would have to buy it, open it up, and mail away for the four figures.
"Why does it look like it’s from the 70’s," he asked.
"Because it’s a reproduction of the Early Bird kit from 1977. It’s supposed to be nostalgic," I explain.
"So they send you old figures?"
"No, they are new figures. You know, new style. Modern."
"Oh. So they’re celebrating when they couldn’t get figures out in time for the first movie twenty years later? Did this just come out, or did they do it when the DVD came out?"
"No," I attempt to explain, "they brought it out on April 2, with all of the Revenge of the Sith toys."
"But it’s from the original movie."
"Right." I'm not making the sale.
"That doesn’t make sense. It looks like its old. So, I have to open this to send away for the figures? What if I want to keep this in the package, you know, mint?"
"You buy two."
He's annoyed and baffled, saying, "They’re thirty dollars. Is the stand inside plastic, at least? I’m not paying sixty bucks for figures and cardboard."
"Sorry, it’s just cardboard."
"This is confusing. And I just paid like ten bucks a piece for all the original figures on old cards like six months ago. I can’t even see what the figures are supposed to look like. You know, forget it."
And two more Early Bird kits go back on the shelf to rot. Nice work, Hasbro.