Author Topic: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle  (Read 69915 times)

Offline Pete_Fett

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Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #60 on: June 19, 2012, 12:46 PM »
No, no, no.  It doesn't work like that Pete.  Hasbro puts whatever they want in a shiny new box and we're all supposed to just go buy it, no questions asked.

Oh - is that the memo I didn't read and accidentally threw in the trash? Damn, I knew that memo to collectors was gonna end up being important one day...  :-X
Peter

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Offline Nicklab

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Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #61 on: June 19, 2012, 03:03 PM »
Ok - so here's something that doesn't make sense to me...

When the line re-launched in support of the 3D re-release of TPM - the most prominent sub-line that supported EP1 was the Vintage line. Right?

So why were the AT-AP, Obi-Wan's EP3 JSF and the V-19 Torrent Starfighter in the Vintage vehicle assortment?

Wouldn't it have made A LOT more sense to have the Pod Racer re-packs, updated Trade Federation Tank and the new Naboo Fighter in the Vintage packaging instead?

The TPM vehicles are in the packaging with Darth Maul on the box.  With two different packaging looks, I think you want to put vehicles from Episode I in a package with that Episode I theme.  That's the Maul box.  And in the years to come IF we see theatrical 3D releases of the rest of the PT and OT, I think it's a fair bet that vehicles from that year's movie will be in movie themed packaging, and not a more general package design.
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Offline Pete_Fett

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Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #62 on: June 19, 2012, 04:02 PM »
The TPM vehicles are in the packaging with Darth Maul on the box.  With two different packaging looks, I think you want to put vehicles from Episode I in a package with that Episode I theme.  That's the Maul box.  And in the years to come IF we see theatrical 3D releases of the rest of the PT and OT, I think it's a fair bet that vehicles from that year's movie will be in movie themed packaging, and not a more general package design.

Nick - using your logic, wouldn't Hasbro want to put figures from the Phantom Menace on card-backs with Darth Maul on the card?

So why did the Movie Heroes line launch with EP3 Shocktrooper, Darth Vader, Super Battle Droid, General Grievous, a ROTS Clonetrooper w/a Jetpack, a re-release of a horrible EP3 Yoda, an AOTC Red Battledroid, a re-release of the "Geonosis Battle" Destroyer Droid and a re-release of EP3 Electronic Lights & Sounds R2-D2?

And to make matters worse, the remaining four figures, which were TPM specific - EP1 Battledroid, Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Darth Maul were all represented in the Vintage line.

So putting out stuff in a box with the Maul head on it, is the same as putting out a Snowspeeder and Cloud Car in a box with Captain Rex's head on it - in other words MEANINGLESS.

You totally missed the point of what I said - EP1 support was greatest in the Vintage line - it started 2012 with 12 figures dedicated to that movie, so if you're going to put re-packaged vehicles into Vintage style boxes anyway, why not make it the EP1 vehicles you're repackaging? Tighten support for the movie re-release across all your lines. Free up space in your main-stream line for new stuff to help that product segment sell better.

If the two pod racers and the Sith Infiltrator had made their way over to be the vehicles repackaged in the Vintage line, that could have made the first wave of the Movie Heroes vehicles line be the updated Trade Federation tank and the new Naboo Starfighter.

Unless something drastic happens, I think that new Naboo Fighter is going to end up being this year's Mandalorian Transport.

The stores are seriously burned by the "Class II" vehicle assortment - both in Maul and Vintage style packaging. Why buy any more? The shame is that the failure of both packaging style lines is due more to the re-treading of product inside the packaging and the ridiculous rapid-fire increase in price.

You take that new Naboo Starfighter, throw it into a Vintage style box and launch the Vintage Vehicles line with it and the updated Trade Federation Tank, and stores would have a much different opinion about the Vintage Vehicle line then they currently do today.
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Offline CHEWIE

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Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #63 on: June 19, 2012, 04:36 PM »
Hasbro's all over the place, and appears to have lost the ability to manage the line.  I think it's mostly to do with their inability to adapt to changes in the economy, juggling too many lines, etc.  They think for whatever reason that their market will continue to buy the same things over and over with new packaging and flood the market with the first wave(s) of a line, but those days are gone. 

I hope they figure things out but I'm more down on them than ever before.

Offline JACKOFTRADZE

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Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #64 on: June 19, 2012, 05:44 PM »
I hope they figure things out but I'm more down on them than ever before.

I hope so too. the real test will be what the rest of the Target 3pks will include. If they pooch this the again on the 3rd go around you know the line is in trouble.

With CW slowing down and ratings down I am not too confident we will see that line continue. So many questions for SDCC...
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Offline Nicklab

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Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #65 on: June 19, 2012, 06:43 PM »
The TPM vehicles are in the packaging with Darth Maul on the box.  With two different packaging looks, I think you want to put vehicles from Episode I in a package with that Episode I theme.  That's the Maul box.  And in the years to come IF we see theatrical 3D releases of the rest of the PT and OT, I think it's a fair bet that vehicles from that year's movie will be in movie themed packaging, and not a more general package design.

Nick - using your logic, wouldn't Hasbro want to put figures from the Phantom Menace on card-backs with Darth Maul on the card?

So why did the Movie Heroes line launch with EP3 Shocktrooper, Darth Vader, Super Battle Droid, General Grievous, a ROTS Clonetrooper w/a Jetpack, a re-release of a horrible EP3 Yoda, an AOTC Red Battledroid, a re-release of the "Geonosis Battle" Destroyer Droid and a re-release of EP3 Electronic Lights & Sounds R2-D2?

And to make matters worse, the remaining four figures, which were TPM specific - EP1 Battledroid, Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Darth Maul were all represented in the Vintage line.


Let's just run through the Movie Heroes / TPM 3-D line and see how much product is on those Darth Maul cards & boxes.  I've added an EPISODE I tag to EVERY Episode I themed item in the line:


MOVIE HEROES BASIC FIGURES

WAVE 1
___  MH01 - Shock Trooper
___  MH02 - Super Battle Droid
___  MH03 - R2-D2 EPISODE I
___  MH04 - Battle Droid (TPM version) EPISODE I
___  MH04 - Battle Droid (AOTC version)
___  MH05 - Darth Maul EPISODE I
___  MH06 - Darth Vader
___  MH07 - General Grievous
___  MH08 - Obi-Wan Kenobi (Episode I) EPISODE I
___  MH09 - Yoda EPISODE I
___  MH10 - Qui-Gon Jinn EPISODE I
___  MH11 - Clone Trooper (Episode III Jet pack)
___  MH12 - Destroyer Droid EPISODE I


WAVE 2
___  MH13 - Jar Jar Binks EPISODE I
___  MH14 - Anakin Skywalker (Pod Racer) EPISODE I
___  MH15 - Darth Maul (Spinning Action) EPISODE I
___  MH16 - Obi-Wan Kenobi (light-up lightsaber) EPISODE I
___  MH17 - Padmé Amidala EPISODE I
___  MH18 - Qui-Gon Jinn (light-up lightsaber) EPISODE I

WAVE 3
___  MHtbd - Anakin Skywalker (light-up lightsaber)
___  MHtbd - Boba Fett
___  MHtbd - Darth Vader (light-up lightsaber)
___  MHtbd - Imperial Sandtrooper
___  MHtbd - Luke Skywalker (light-up lightsaber)



EXCLUSIVE FIGURES

2012 DISCOVER THE FORCE - WALMART EXCLUSIVE
___  DTF01 - Aurra Sing EPISODE I
___  DTF02 - Darth Maul EPISODE I
___  DTF03 - Destroyer Droid EPISODE I
___  DTF04 - G8-R3 EPISODE I
___  DTF05 - Gungan Warrior EPISODE I
___  DTF06 - Mawhonic EPISODE I
___  DTF07 - Obi-Wan Kenobi EPISODE I
___  DTF08 - Qui-Gon Jinn EPISODE I
___  DTF09 - Ric Olie EPISODE I
___  DTF10 - Naboo Pilot EPISODE I
___  DTF11 - Tusken Raider EPISODE I
___  DTF12 - Yoda EPISODE I





MULTIPACKS

SITH 2-PACKS TARGET EXCLUSIVE
___  EMERGENCE OF THE SITH - w/ Darth Sidious & Darth Maul EPISODE I
___  RISE OF DARTH VADER - w/ Anakin Skywalker & Darth Vader EPISODE I


BATTLE PACKS
___  GEONOSIS ARENA BATTLES - w/ Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jango Fett & Battle Droid
___  REPUBLIC CLONE TROOPERS - w/ Bomb Disposal Clone Trooper, Clone Trooper Hardcase & Clone Trooper Cutup
___  REBEL HEROES - w/ Han Solo, Chewbacca & C-3PO
___  BESPIN BATTLE - w/ Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker & Boba Fett
___  DUEL ON NABOO - w/ Darth Maul, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Qui-Gon Jinn EPISODE I


EXCLUSIVE BATTLE PACKS
___  POD RACER PILOTS - w/ Mars Guo, Gasgano, Boles Roor, Clegg Holdfast & Teemto Pagalies EPISODE I
___  MOS ESPA ARENA - w/ C-3PO, Anakin Skywalker, Sebulba and two Pit Droids & flags EPISODE I
___  ROYAL STARSHIP DROIDS - w/ R2-B1, R2-D2, R2-N3 and R2-R9  EPISODE I
___  DARTH MAUL RETURNS - w/ Darth Maul, Nightsister & Savage Opress




CLASS I VEHICLES
___  Sith Speeder with Darth Maul EPISODE I
___  Naboo Royal Fighter with Obi-Wan Kenobi EPISODE I
___  BARC Speeder with Clone Trooper
___  STAP with Battle Droid EPISODE I
___  Republic Assault Submarine with SCUBA Clone Trooper
___  Attack Recon Fighter with Anakin Skywalker
___  Republic Attack Dropship with Clone Pilot


CLASS II ATTACK VEHICLES

WAVE 1
___  Anakin Skywalker's Pod Racer EPISODE I
___  Sebulba's Pod Racer EPISODE I
___  Sith Infiltrator EPISODE I
___  Armored Assault Tank (AAT) EPISODE I

WAVE 2
___  Republic Fighter Tank
___  Anakin's Jedi Starfighter (Delta II)
___  Naboo Starfighter EPISODE I


CLASS II ATTACK VEHICLES - EXCLUSIVES
___  Trade Federation Droid Starfighter EPISODE I
___  Dewback EPISODE I


LARGE VEHICLES - EXCLUSIVES
___  AT-ST





The MAJORITY of the Movie Heroes offerings have SOME sort of Episode I connection or appeared in that movie in some way, shape or form.  As for everything that falls outside that realm, what do you propose that Hasbro do?  Launch ANOTHER line look?

Out of the currently announced 23 Movie Heroes figures, 13 of those characters appear in THE PHANTOM MENACE.  And ALL of the characters in the WalMart exclusive Discover the Force line (which has the same line look at Movie Heroes) are from THE PHANTOM MENACE, too.

As for the crossover between some of the TVC, DTF and MH lines, guess what?  They're CORE CHARACTERS.  Plus, there have been countless thousands upon thousands of forum posts over the years with collectors either asking for characters like Qui-Gon on a Vintage style card, or showing collector mockups of a PT character on a Vintage card.  THAT is why you have Qui-Gon, Darth Maul, Obi-Wan and Battle Droids on TVC cards, too.

Nobody is disputing that Hasbro has put out far too many Jedi Starfighters.  But guess what?  There's only one that's been announceed in THIS line, and only one that's been offered in the TVC line.  It will take time for old inventory to sell through.  But Hasbro's vehicle strategy seems rather clear, too:  Use existing tools for the bulk of the line, with SOME retooling (the AAT), and SOME repainting (Republic Fighter Tank, Vulture Droid), and perhaps ONE new vehicle (Naboo starfighter).

As for the topic of THIS thread?  We're just going to have to wait and see what happens with the Mandalorian Shuttle.  It's a new tool.  And the storyline of CW season 5 may give it a second chance at life on the shelves.
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Offline Pete_Fett

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Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #66 on: June 19, 2012, 07:45 PM »
Thank you for the summary Nick.

And believe it or not, thank you for proving my point.

If you look at the first waves of every one of the sub-segments in the line, the ONLY one that is 100% EP1 right out of the gate is the Class II vehicle line, full of nothing but Ep1 repacks.

If the Class I vehicle line can have 1 out of the 4 be a non-Ep1 vehicle w/figure. And wave 1 of Movie Heroes can be almost 50% non-Ep1 figures, then why couldn't there have been a non-Ep1 vehicle in the Class II vehicle wave 1?

And conversely with the first wave of 2012 Vintage being 100% Ep1 figures, why wasn't at least one Ep1 vehicle put into the Vintage packaging style? I'm okay with Vintage Packaging style vehicles being a "greatest hits" of mid-size vehicles, so why couldn't the pod racers have been put there instead?

That's all my point is - where is Hasbro's sense of balance/coordination of product?

If a couple of those Ep1 repacks had been moved to the Vintage vehicle line making space for the Naboo Starfighter to be in the Movie Heroes Class II wave 1 and either the Mando Transport or Republic Canon to be carried forward into the wave, you end up with a retail landscape that has the potential for continued product re-order/re-stock as opposed to where we are now with retailers dumping the Vintage vehicle line and not ordering the Wave 2 vehicles which are already in stock with the online retailers.

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Offline McMetal

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Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #67 on: June 20, 2012, 05:11 PM »
I went ahead and bit the bullet like Pete and ordered one of these online that I think is the English packaging version. Pricey, but probably cheaper than it would be when/if one ever shows up on eBay. (Curious this hasn't happened already)

Fingers crossed, will find out next week.  :-\
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Offline Pete_Fett

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Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #68 on: June 20, 2012, 08:39 PM »
I went ahead and bit the bullet like Pete and ordered one of these online that I think is the English packaging version. Pricey, but probably cheaper than it would be when/if one ever shows up on eBay. (Curious this hasn't happened already)

Fingers crossed, will find out next week.  :-\

I hope you fare better than I did.

While I did get a US packaged version. The seller - ToyWiz - had some serious balls charging $100 for a non-Mint packaged version.

And of course, they KNEW anyone willing to pay that kind of money would be torn about returning it.

Peter

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Offline McMetal

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Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #69 on: June 20, 2012, 10:48 PM »
Well, my hope was short-lived. I got a reply back from the seller stating that this was not in fact the US version, so they were kind enough to simply cancel my order prior to shipping.

So, back to the drawing board.  :(
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Offline McMetal

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Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #70 on: June 27, 2012, 09:48 AM »
Apparently I am not the only one keen on the US packaged version of this.

The first one of these to go up on eBay after the cancellation announcement sold for $295 last night.

I'm not kidding. Almost three hundred bucks. For that price, you could afford round trip plane tickets to Mexico plus cab fare to the nearest Walmart and just pick one up off the shelves yourself.

Clearly that is just crazy. There are more of these things out there in circulation and this kind of insane bidding isn't doing anyone any favors. (Except the sellers) I expect to see more of these popping up in weeks to come.

So Pete, you got a bargain.
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Offline JediJman

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Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #71 on: July 3, 2012, 11:29 AM »
It's all supply and demand.  If you really want one of these and have the dough to spend $100 or even $300, then more power to you.  That's just way too rich for my blood.  I can't shell out that kind of money unless I'm 99% certain of the rarity of the item, and even then it has to be something I'm fully vested in.  Kubricks are a great example - lots of the rarer ones can go for $100-300 or more, but I know that we're not going to suddenly see 50 Kubrick AT-ST Drivers show up at a Tuesday Morning or Marshall's.  Ever.  For the Shuttle, I'm still convinced we will see these again in some form down the road.
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Offline McMetal

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Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #72 on: July 17, 2012, 03:07 PM »
I received my English Language Mandalorian Assault Transport in the mail yesterday, had finally pulled the trigger a few weeks back on one online. The box is not in stellar shape but it's good enough, dammit. :)

A lot to pay but seeing as how this is likely the last new Class II ship in the animated line, I can stomach it.
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #73 on: July 17, 2012, 08:26 PM »
Kubricks are a great example - lots of the rarer ones can go for $100-300 or more, but I know that we're not going to suddenly see 50 Kubrick AT-ST Drivers show up at a Tuesday Morning or Marshall's.  Ever.  For the Shuttle, I'm still convinced we will see these again in some form down the road.

This is what to consider...  if packaging isn't your big buggaboo, you're likely to see this thing again.  Hasbro said as much at SDCC, that they do want to get this back out...  be it an exclusive, or a repack, or whatever. 

One thing about Hasbro...  they hate wasting a tooling once they have it.  Things like Malak/Revan are rare occurances in modern collecting, and even those I suspect we shall see again, in some form, and they'll kill the secondary market.
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Offline JediJman

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Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #74 on: July 17, 2012, 10:35 PM »
Glad you got yours McMetal.  I have had a rotten experience trying to get these on Ebay.  I was okay with Canadian packaging and ordered two of them for $85 shipped.  What arrived was a horribly beaten up and opened Transport along with a sealed Droid Fighter.  I contacted the seller right away and he was very responsive and apologetic.  He asked that I give him a chance to fix it, and that I should return the items.  He would reimburse me the cost, send two new minty shuttles, and refund me another $10.  I sent his package back the next day and even had it returned to sender to save him money.  I have contacted him a few times for status and he responded quickly that he was delayed with a vacation or was waiting for the return package. 

So, about 2 weeks ago he said that I shouldn't have to wait any longer and that he would just send them on Tuesday (last week).  He said he would send along tracking and let me know that they shipped.  I've heard nothing and tried to contact him 3 times, with no response.  So, today, I got fed up and went to open a resolution case with Ebay, only to find out that you can't do that after 45 days.  FYI - I bought the items 47 days ago.

I actually called Ebay, but they won't adjust their policy.  They got me the phone number of the guy and I tried to call, but no answer.  I waill continue to harrass him, and have a few other avenues like mail fraud to pursue, but I'm guessing I am just out $85 with nothing to show for it.  I searched his feedback and found other complaints about him - I read them before, but his responses sounded like he had provided refunds and that some of the buyers were really out of line.  I'm going to do what I can to screw with his ability to sell on Ebay.  This is just extra frustrating given the difficulty in getting this item.
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