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Messages - Muftak

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331
Are these definitely target exclusives?!  Usually they don’t do a full wave of brand new high quality sculpts and have them as exclusives.

Exclusives make sense to me since the only new pieces are heads.

332
The Vintage Collection / Re: Big Items of the Future!
« on: February 14, 2022, 02:00 PM »
Reading those comments it seems like the bots really appreciate his blog!

What a blast from the past!

333
The Vintage Collection / Re: Big Items of the Future!
« on: February 14, 2022, 12:46 PM »

My other choice would be the Emperor's throne room, since we just got a new Emperor for that, along with the window. It's super toyetic (all of Luke and Vader's 3rd act action was here), and it could be an avenue for them to "complete the 96" by including Sim Aloo, who would absolutely tank of pegs by himself.

I agree the Emperor's Throne Room would be a great set to get out there, but I fear at even the $250 pricepoint we wouldn't get much of the Room.

It doesn't really go with a lot of figures, but I can attest to its play value as when I made my tiny Cardboard Galaxy version, my then 8 year old son commandeered the prototype so he could have Vader and Luke fight all day long, going up and down the stairs. Something about the dual level design makes it extremely toyetic and inviting for play!

334
The Vintage Collection / Re: Big Items of the Future!
« on: February 13, 2022, 07:56 AM »
I saw a social media post from Jayson that the preorders for the Throne Room were already 1/3rd of the way to the sold out milestone.  I'd love to hear what those numbers are, but I also understand the need to protect sources.

Over on Rebelscum someone has been looking at the Pulse order page's source code and gleaned the available quantity was 19,750 with around 7,500 preordered so far. I think that is where numbers are coming from at this point. 20,000 sounds like a realistic MOQ for the set judging by where successful HasLabs have been landing recently.

When I shored up what my OT collection was going to be back in 2008 I broke them down by scene to make themed shelf displays for them all. I wound up with basic scenes: Cantina. Tatooine Desert, Hoth, Cloud City, Death Star/Star Destroyer, Home One, Yavin, Jabba's Palace. I wound up skipping Dagobah and Endor because I just didn't have enough figures for those spots to justify the space. But some of those other environments wound up being pretty big because so many figures needed to fit there. A Cantina playset designed with all the released figures in mind will be really big as a shelf display--I solved this by doing the bar as one shelf and the booths and alcoves on a different one.

The weird thing about this Throne Room is most of the display space in the set is behind the throne. It will look weird, but probably you can keep most of the "floor" figures on display in the Barge if you have that.

335
The Vintage Collection / Re: Big Items of the Future!
« on: February 11, 2022, 11:03 AM »
Based on the size (large, and movie set-accurate) of the Jabba's Throne Room, I could see individual rooms from the Death Star coming in this range. Places like the control room with the red computer, the detention block area, the conference room, etc. I can easily see each one of those areas being a $200 Pulse set. Sure, give them a similar footprint to make them stackable for those who want to build a Death Star tower, plan that in, why not?

But they are missing out on serious scratch if they don't try to do a Death Star Hallway in the $50 retail range and make it in a very similar vein to the Tantive IV Corridor from last year, leaning more into the modularity. Make it able to be open or enclosed, infinite in series, able to do 90 degree turns or 4 way junctions. Then make sure that set can connect between the big ones so crazy people can build them out like the enormous train displays of the previous generation. I have no doubt these would sell 'til the molds break--I have been selling modular Cardboard Galaxy Death Star hallway pieces for over 2 years now and they always sell out when I put a batch up.

However they put out a Death Star set, I will turn up with money in hand.

336
The Vintage Collection / Re: Target 2022 TVC Boba Fett (Morak)
« on: February 11, 2022, 10:35 AM »

Patrick said that Boba Fett has significantly more paint apps as TVC figures go, and there's an associated cost.  Sounded like corporate doubletalk to me.

If you were ever in a position where you need a corporate type to be able to talk their way around a problem, hire Patrick.  But being on the other side of things?  Uggghhhh

Well said. These Deluxe offerings are testing our limits as far as what we will pay. The fact that they still sold out fast means we aren't there yet, but as soon as we reach that limit, the BS justification of the price increase will have to be rolled back or BS'ed around in some other way.

Put another way, if $25 Fetts didn't sell, it's not like Patrick's artistic integrity would stop him from putting a dumbed-down/cost-effective version in the TVC basic line to move units. (Instead, we will have to wait and see what the $30-$35 version will be in the future as Patrick continues searching for the ceiling.)

337
This looks amazing! There's definitely some sticker shock, but the level of detail is impressive. And Bib Fortuna looks amazing, such as he is.  I'm a little disappointed that this version of Bib Fortuna would only be available through the playset, but that's a first world problem.

The summer 2023 delivery date? That seems like the most significant detail, and it seems worthy of some thoughtful discussion. Since when is Hasbro pitching a general or exclusive release product 18 months out? Preorders that might be 6 to 9 months away are one thing. But a 1 year + order process and this is not a Haslab campaign. Hmmm...

Hot Take -- this thing was scrambled together the last 6 weeks in a desperate attempt to get that money they were counting on from the failed Rancor HasLab. It's basically a HasLab in all but name.

It will be interesting to see if quantities instantly sell out or if it lingers (because of either the high price or the fact that no quantity limit is set yet.)

I want it and will likely get it, but I don't just make $200 toy purchases on a 24hr turnaround. Heck, I don't even buy $25 TVC figures the next day after reveal...

338
$34???  What makes this deluxe?

The fact that it is a fully tooled figure with parts that can't be amortized down the line, like Har Jar Binks was. This isn't Yavin Luke with a Walrus Man head, so you gotta pay for the tooling.

339
TV-9D9 / Re: The Book of Boba Fett (Spoilers)
« on: February 7, 2022, 11:10 AM »
[quote author=Qui-Gon Jim link=topic=25301.msg627784#msg627784 date=1644246647

I read somewhere yesterday that Hamill did nothing for BoB other than lend his likeness.  The voice was build by a machine-learning process that they fed the raw dialog of the OT and the radio dramas. 

To be honest, as cool as the voice is, it really seems artificial to me.
[/quote]

My wife and I remarked that it was very much like the stylization they did for Data's android voice back in ST:TNG. I was actively listening to see if Luke would use any contractions!

340
TV-9D9 / Re: The Book of Boba Fett (Spoilers)
« on: January 27, 2022, 06:31 PM »
That was weird.

My son hooted and hollered at the double-punch of Mando appearing and his theme playing. And the beginning was genuinely thrilling and exciting in a way TBOBF has not captured for me.

It's weird that so much Mando lore now resides in the middle of another series. That would be like the episode where Richie Cunningham goes to college and Chachi moves in with Fonzie while Arnold sells the diner to Al all taking place in a January episode of Laverne and Shirley. It's weird Will this all get a 10 minute recap on the real season 3 premiere?

So then the episode got moving,, and never left Mando. I couldn't believe it, as we had like seventeen mini-episodes unfold including a forging montage, a training montage, a flashback, a battle to the death...seriously I would have preferred these bits to be fleshed out over the first four episodes of the series, and have all the Boba Fett "Daimyo" stuff get crammed into episode 5 instead. I guess that would have been Mandalorian season 3, though. Yeah, that's what I want.

Once it got back to Tatooine I got a little bored or maybe just exhausted, and I will point out that TPM is my 3rd favorite saga flick so it's not like I wasn't enjoying the callbacks. Too much Pelli Motto for my taste. (She had more lines, screen time, and plot involvement this episode than any of the side characters introduced in TBOBF so far. Why couldn't we get a chance to get to know the characters of the 2 Gammoreans hanging around with Bo a like this? Some antics, some history, maybe one of them dated a Jawa..?)

Last week I was resigned to disliking this series because of the strange structure and complete failure of good storytelling. This week I loved so much of what was going on...but the underlying problems are still there. The storytelling is being forgotten and in its place are at best fun skits to watch (and at worst seriously cringe-inducing bad TV.)

If this is them trying to do a large overarching storyline, it isn't working. Build a larger narrative to guide the story, but remember these are individual episodes that at their best should have the ability to be watched and enjoyed on their own.

341
The Vintage Collection / Re: Target 2022 TVC Boba Fett (Morak)
« on: January 25, 2022, 04:37 PM »
Instead of jumping through all the hoops to get another overpriced Boba Fett exclusive (because he would never sell as a mass release. Right? Isn't that the Hasbro justification for exclusives with higher pricepoints?) I did something more fun.

I went on eBay and bought an old 30th anniversary Luke Skywalker with Moisture Vaporator for 20 bucks. That's a deluxe figure, and a set I would buy multiples of in 2022 too if Hasbro wants to do Deluxe sets.

Can't have too many vaporators (bonus-- the seller put the Saga Luke with poncho and floppy hat in the set instead of the 30th Luke with the funky hair.)

342
Great Muftak!  I think we all need to wait on Jesse's review.  He's the RFT authority around here!   ;D

No doubt! Spoiler--still no holsters!  :'(

343
I popped open my set of the Rebel Fleet Troopers and I have to write down how pleased I am with every little thing about it.

I was "retired" from collecting when the TVC RFT figure was first released, so while it was on my radar as something I would buy if I saw it, its scarcity in stores killed that possibility. I didn't get one until they shipped with the Tantive IV playsets last year (at which point I also got one of the original pre-face printing releases, boosting my army to 3 which felt excessive!)

First off I really appreciate the new head sculpts from the standpoint of improved functionality. The helmets on the originals I have never seemed to fit tightly. The bigger hairsculpts on the new heads have made the helmets a better fit. Of course there is the bald guy whose helmet still jostles around, but 3 out of 4 ain't bad.

The Antilles figure works for me, too. Paired with the other figures in the set his paint scheme is so different he doesn't seem like a repaint at all. It worked out well.

I only bought one set, and that feels like enough for me. I could see headswapping a different officer if I had another 4-pack, but honestly I was always content with 2 RFTs on display, and now I get to have 4 unique characters plus Antilles. It's almost overkill!

344
TV-9D9 / Re: The Book of Boba Fett (Spoilers)
« on: January 19, 2022, 10:19 PM »
I could talk about what went wrong in the storytelling for me this week, but I am kind of over it.

I think this show just is not aimed at me, and I am okay with that.

345
I switched my Rebel Troopers order to Disney on Monday and got a shipping notice this morning.

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