2023 TVC OWK Obi-Wan & Battle Damage Vader 2-Pack

[Jesse James]

I get that the cards are important for some collectors, but I feel like we're all carrying the water for them here. Nevertheless, I'm pretty excited for this set.

Yup, totally agree.  I’d be honestly fine seeing TVC retired again.

[Jesse James]

Like the set.  Hate the price… well, dislike the price.  Not as bad as $45 speederbikes feel.

Anyway, I enjoy the final product because this was one of my fave sequences in all the D+ shows.  I’m glad to have it… but yeah I hate the current pricing.  Repainted Fetts being the worst offenders somehow.

[Rob]

Like the set.  Hate the price… well, dislike the price.  Not as bad as $45 speederbikes feel.

Except those speeder bikes have regularly been available for $25 to $30. 

[Jeff]

That Darth Vader cardback has to be one of the LAZIEST cards I've ever seen them do.  It's basically the same as the Dark Times Vader card...



If the whole point of this Vader is his lightsaber-slashed helmet, doesn't it kind of make sense to make sure that is prominently featured on the cardback?!? 

It's like Hasbro went to the official site's Darth Vader databank entry, grabbed the picture and went, "done".

[Dave]

Real artists and creative people cost money.  Why work hard when you can mail it in?  All you need is some unpaid interns and Google and you've saved yourself a bunch of money and effort. 

I'm sure Hasbro has fired all the artists they got when the bought Galoob, but I remember some of the MicroMachines playset boxes as being fantastic works of art.  I whish Hasbro spent 1/100th of the effort on packaging artwork that some of the people did back in the heyday.

[Nicklab]

With this version of Darth Vader, I thought there was an obvious choice for the image on the cardback.



Or...



But watching the scene, these are really tight closeups, and the shot composition is very much horizontal - intended to fill the frame.  A cardback filmout needs to be more vertical.

Plus there's the lighting - or lack thereof.  The incidental lighting of the glow of the lightsabers is all there is.  And when it goes from blue to red?  That red does not read well on the black of Vader's helmet.  It makes the exposed face look demonic, but the definition of the rest of the helmet is somewhat lost.

Hasbro has definitely done some heavy lifting in the past with cardback artwork on TVC cards - the deleted scene figures, the realistic Clone Wars renditions, etc.  This would have been a similar case.  So it leaves me wondering if this was a call on the part of Hasbro's packaging design people?  Or perhaps Lucasfilm wanted something more neutral?

[Jedi Idej]

but I remember some of the MicroMachines playset boxes as being fantastic works of art.

Oh, the memories. Under-appreciated, even by me back in the day.

Hasbro answered a cardback pic question a few months ago (I think a clonetrooper) and how none of the available references would work. From that I see they do put some thought, but to everyone's point, probably not enough resources to do extensive work on the image.

For me, the issue -- not a real problem -- is that collectors could get the figs mixed up if they just glance at the pic.

[Ryan]

I do at least like the Obi-Wan cardback, but agree with the overall sentiments about the high price & the lazyish Vader cardback. The Obi-Wan figure looks good. It's hard to tell if that is a new torso or if it comes from another older Jedi figure. If it is a new piece, I'll bet that is a sign we will see some other Jedi figures soon.

I also wonder if the "Showdown" vs "Duel's End" text had anything to do with the delayed reveal of this item and if both versions made it to production?

[Jeff]

It's hard to tell if that is a new torso or if it comes from another older Jedi figure. If it is a new piece, I'll bet that is a sign we will see some other Jedi figures soon.

With new Phase 1 Clone Trooper, Dooku, and DLX Jango all getting pipeline reveals, more AOTC Arena Jedi coming would probably make sense...

[Nicklab]

So I have been taking a look at the calendar lately with an eye towards Hasbro's 12 - 18 month development timeline.  All while factoring in their "We saw it when you saw it" take on some characters first appearances in movies or Disney+ series.  And the estimated delivery date for this set actually lines up with that timeline.  And IIRC, the Grand Inquisitor should be showing up around that time as well.

I feel like the OWK series was somewhat unique in that we got figures of show characters fairly close to the premiere of the series.  But we're just coming off of this pretty substantial TBOBF mini-beat where Hasbro offered at least 3 basic figures, a convention exclusive and the Tusken 4-pack within the space of 2 or 3 month - and at the end of that 18 month window!  So does anyone think that we're likely to get much more from the OWK series?  And what other OWK characters are you hoping to get if we're almost in this next Hasbro TVC "mini-beat"?

[Jedi Idej]

So does anyone think that we're likely to get much more from the OWK series?  And what other OWK characters are you hoping to get if we're almost in this next Hasbro TVC "mini-beat"?

Iffy at best. Maybe Qui-Gon Ghost if there's a second series and he's part of it or if Hasbro revisits him for TPM. Tala, too.

There are more characters than I thought that I'd like see made.

My top choices in no particular order:
Gui-Gon, spirit
Tala Durith, Imperial outfit
Haja
Leia, child
Luke, child
Fourth Sister
Dinosaur bounty hunter

[Jeff]

So I have been taking a look at the calendar lately with an eye towards Hasbro's 12 - 18 month development timeline.  All while factoring in their "We saw it when you saw it" take on some characters first appearances in movies or Disney+ series.  And the estimated delivery date for this set actually lines up with that timeline.  And IIRC, the Grand Inquisitor should be showing up around that time as well.

So why then does it take this long for 3.75" but not 6"?

Black Series got Grand Inquisitor, 5th Brother, 4th Sister, Tala, etc WAY faster than 12-18 months.

Same with Andor.  Black Series has Bix, Luthen, Mon Mothma, but nothing on those for TVC yet...

Same with Bad Batch.  BS6" has TWO versions of Wrecker, Hunter, Tech, Echo, Omega and TVC has... one version of Hunter.

To me, this feels a LOT more like Hasbro knows the TVC crowd will still be there to buy figures 12-18 months after a show but there is a much greater need to "strike while the iron is hot" in the Black Series stuff. 

It feels like BS6" gets much more timely attention for creating new things while TVC fans are forced to wait...  I'm not sure if that is a resourcing thing, a desire to not compete with themselves (putting the same 3.75"/6" figures in stores at the same time), or what.  I mean, I guess we've proven over the years that if we are still buying/wanting NEW figures from 40+ year old movies, waiting a year or two for a new figure isn't a big deal.

[Dave]

To me, this feels a LOT more like Hasbro knows the TVC crowd will still be there to buy figures 12-18 months after a show but there is a much greater need to "strike while the iron is hot" in the Black Series stuff. 

I think Hasbro has said this in a way about 6" collectors.  I believe they characterize 6" purchasers as more impulse driven, I like that and want one for my desk, which is why I think you see so many Christmas decos, video game figures, and other random items that might be more curiosities.  Obviously there are still the hardcore fans that buy a bunch of these too.

I do wish Hasbro got their **** together on TVC.  Collectors will buy these whenever they get made, but if they want a successful retail product at Target and Wal-Mart, it sure would help if they came out with a full wave of figures pretty close to the release of a new title.  Adam Pawlus had some recent commentary on this on his site that was pretty good.  I get Disney wanting to hold back wildly surprising characters like Grogu from Hasbro's radar, but when you've got main characters in teasers six months ahead of time there has got to be a way to close that gap between premier and toy release.  Sprinkling a figure here and there over the following two years is not going to make for a successful line at retail.

[Jeff]

Got the 'shipping soon' note from Amazon... due 10/17 for my order.

[Nicklab]

My Amazon order for this got pushed back even further into December.  Although there could be another email changing the date to Thursday.  IDK what is up with Amazon sometimes.