JediDefender.com Forums
Collectibles => The Vintage Collection => Topic started by: Jeff on April 9, 2021, 02:54 PM
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Four figures announced to kick off this line.
- BF2 Heavy Battle Droid (repaint of TVC sculpt w/new weapons)
- JFO Electrostaff Purge Trooper (kitbash - old sculpt with new parts)
- TFU Shadow Stormtrooper (repaint)
- JFO Scout Trooper (kitbash - old sculpt with new parts)
Pre-orders up later today at 5pm ET.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EykTIqEU8AITtm1.jpg) (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EykTwkgVcAEJvjB.jpg)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EykTIqEUcAAi2v1.jpg) (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EykTwknU8AIWsBy.jpg)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EykTIqEVoAA-uPD.jpg) (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EykTwknVcAEvPLD.jpg)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EykTIqEVgAQws1h.jpg) (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EykTwknU4AM-FbW.jpg)
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So Fan Channel. I always forget what this means. These aren't GS only. Amazon, EE, etc?
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I haven't been able to follow along today, but I just went to EE and ordered:
1 Gaming Greats Battle Droid
2 Gaming Greats Shadow Stormtroopers
1 Gaming Greats Royal Guard
1 Gaming Greats Shock Scout Trooper
2 Gaming Greats Purge Troopers
1 TVC Hoth Luke
1 TVC Endor Han
And with shipping it was $159
That feels like a **** of a lot for 9 action figures and I really hope I can order these elsewhere for $12.99 with free shipping and cancel all of this.
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I got most of these from HasbroPulse, but wasn't able to find the Purge Trooper.
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I ended up getting the Purge Trooper off of Entertainment Earth. Odd that a lot of these were limited to one per customer on Hasbro Pulse.
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I just figured that out now...
Managed to get a few from Pulse, with the free shipping... will have to balance out the two orders.
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Did you find the Purge Trooper on Hasbro Pulse?
I tried multiple search terms and couldn't find it even in a sold out status.
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No cases of these?
I’ve never honestly considered quitting more than now. Star Wars collecting is becoming a bit of a waste and not worth the hassle.
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Did you find the Purge Trooper on Hasbro Pulse?
I tried multiple search terms and couldn't find it even in a sold out status.
Nope, Purge Trooper I only found on EE. I left that part of the order intact for now.
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Someone thinks the purge is an EE exclusive. I didn’t hear Hasbro mention that though.
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Someone thinks the purge is an EE exclusive. I didn’t hear Hasbro mention that though.
Yeah, I can't find this at BBTS or HasbroPulse. Odd.
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It would make sense that it's an EE exclusive given the availability...
Overall this is a moderately clever way to get a few kitbashes and re-releases out there but I really hope they have some actual brand new stuff in the pipeline...
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It looks like we just got hit with a price increase and nobody at Hasbro said anything about it.
Hasbro Pulse had the Gaming Greats wave limited to one per customer. And I couldn't find the Purge Trooper there, either. All told for this wave, I ordered 3 of each because of course these are army builders! And the orders got split between Hasbro Pulse and EE. I really like Dorkside Toys, but I feel like EE is getting their allotments more consistently than a lot of the other online retailers.
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It has been confirmed that for now the Purge Trooper is an EE exclusive - eventually it'll start popping up at other places with a higher price as those shops buy it from EE via wholesale.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eyj8CfKWUAoIIR8.jpg)
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I don't game but I had serious envy when the Purge Trooper came out in the BS. So glad it's now in TVC form. But essentially $5 shipping for each fig on top of the delta for the gaming greats is a tough swallow, so HasbroPulse gets my dollars for the others.
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Don't mistake this observation about the Gaming Greats sub-line as a complaint. But is anyone else puzzled about why Hasbro would offer two TVC trooper figures from Jedi - Fallen Order? I'm asking that because Hasbro has yet to take on the main character in the game, Cal Kestis, in the 3.75" scale. I think that these releases would lead you to believe that a 3.75" version of Cal Kestis might be coming in the near future. But having these trooper villains and not the central protagonist for them to oppose seems a little strange.
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Don't mistake this observation about the Gaming Greats sub-line as a complaint. But is anyone else puzzled about why Hasbro would offer two TVC trooper figures from Jedi - Fallen Order? I'm asking that because Hasbro has yet to take on the main character in the game, Cal Kestis, in the 3.75" scale. I think that these releases would lead you to believe that a 3.75" version of Cal Kestis might be coming in the near future. But having these trooper villains and not the central protagonist for them to oppose seems a little strange.
The current team doesn't look at this sort of thing at all, to them these figures are widgets and are completely interchangeable. If you want to talk about main characters, look at the line-up for Episode 9 figures. We got one main hero (two if you count Poe, but he was not in his movie outfit so I tend to not include that.) No main villains. Some army builders, some fanboy designs.
From a widget POV the Purge Trooper gets priority over Cal Kestis because there are several easy repaint/repack/reuse opportunities for the tooling. And the other is a retool already.
There is no intended world-building with the current TVC line. They struggle so hard with that (looking at Leia and Lando coming out over a year after their Carbon Freeze playset dropped.)
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I'm right there with you on the Episode 9 figures! And I was so shocked that Hasbro didn't respond to my question on the Hasbro Pulse Instagram account about that very topic. I wonder why they wouldn't do that? ;D
I get the business calculation that goes into producing troopers. It's a character that is pretty much guaranteed to sell multiples. I will actually give a little bit of credit to Hasbro because they're doing more solid case packs with troop builders. They did it with the Rogue One Stormtrooper, the Remnant Stormtrooper and they're also going to be doing it with the Walmart exclusive AT-ST Driver. They get the demand for that segment of collecting.
But there is something to be said for a brand presence at retail. At most of the Target stores near me the planogram has MOTU right next to the shelf space allocated for Star Wars. And there are ALWAYS He-Man figures on those pegs. With the Star Wars space? They have a pretty banner featuring the Mandalorian on it. But how often has ANYONE actually seen a figure of the Mandalorian on the pegs in either the 3.75" or 6" scales? Or for that matter any TVC figures in quantity at retail? That same brand presence concept should apply to central characters in the saga that should always be available at retail: Luke, Anakin, Vader, Rey, etc. And in this case with a major game release - Cal Kestis.
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Don't mistake this observation about the Gaming Greats sub-line as a complaint. But is anyone else puzzled about why Hasbro would offer two TVC trooper figures from Jedi - Fallen Order? I'm asking that because Hasbro has yet to take on the main character in the game, Cal Kestis, in the 3.75" scale. I think that these releases would lead you to believe that a 3.75" version of Cal Kestis might be coming in the near future. But having these trooper villains and not the central protagonist for them to oppose seems a little strange.
The TVC line isn’t getting much new tooling these days and troopers are easy for them to kitbash and repaint. That’s the simple answer.
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I'm hoping that some KOTOR figures make it into the gaming greats, not just a re-release of what's already been put out, but some new figures as well.
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I mean they repainted the ****** Battledroid that's currently stinking up the pegs. Did anyone, anywhere ask for a repaint of that?
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I mean they repainted the ****** Battledroid that's currently stinking up the pegs. Did anyone, anywhere ask for a repaint of that?
I can't speak for the 1000s of other Targets, but of the four I frequent, one has 2x TIE Pilot, one has a Karga and Leia and the other two have nothing. Maybe there's lots of Battle Droids elsewhere.
Also clearly Black Series showed us Gaming Greats will be lots of somewhat altered existing troops specific to video games. The fact they chose four TVC figs that BS already got including the Battle Droid doesn't seem that shocking to me
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It’s similar here. Battledroid sells first and the others sit to diff degrees. I don’t like that droid myself but others do... whatevs. I just wish those 30AC 2-packs were still the standard haha.
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You guys have figures in stores?????
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One copy of The Child a couple weeks ago is the only 3.75” item I’ve seen in stores in as long as I can remember.
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As a guy who doesn't do a ton of gaming anymore, I'm conflicted on these.
I just can't get excited about the idea of paying $15 for a single Battle Droid repaint, the 3rd (or 4th?) try at the 'phased' Trooper from TFU, or even a Scout Trooper repack with a new harness and electrostick.
I guess maybe I'm finally getting too old for this ****. :-\
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As a guy who doesn't do a ton of gaming anymore, I'm conflicted on these.
I just can't get excited about the idea of paying $15 for a single Battle Droid repaint, the 3rd (or 4th?) try at the 'phased' Trooper from TFU, or even a Scout Trooper repack with a new harness and electrostick.
I guess maybe I'm finally getting too old for this ****. :-\
For me it's that Hasbro has gotten extremely lazy when it comes to 3.75". They don't seem to care, and it's trickling down to collectors.
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They don't seem to care, and it's trickling down to collectors.
Yeah, I agree with that. It's like Muftak said earlier - 3.75" figures are just widgets. There is no rhyme or reason to what they pick anymore and it really is disappointing to the point of killing my interest.
This idea that Hasbro are designing 3.75" and 6" to "compliment each other" is just stupid. I don't care that 6" TFA Leia exists. I want 3.75" TFA Leia for my collection. I don't want to hear "we made him in the 6" line and it looks great" when I ask for a 3.75" SOLO Dryden Vos. They really don't get that some of us don't mix and match 3.75" and 6" stuff.
Blah. Now I'm even more depressed about all this.
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That should be extremely obvious. What kind of monster just mixes and matches two scales?!
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They really don't get that some of us don't mix and match 3.75" and 6" stuff.
Does anyone do this?!?
I've got shelves of each figure style, but they never are together.
I like my 6" display, but for the most part its just the figures and some GTP space walls in the back.
My 3.75" display is far more rich with variety, vehicles, accessories, creatures, etc.
This is maybe the dumbest thing I've ever heard - This idea that Hasbro are designing 3.75" and 6" to "compliment each other" is just stupid.
If Hasbro really does think this way they should be kicked in the nuts repeatedly until they spend more time with collectors and kids to understand what they want.
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I only collect 3.75" Star Wars figures.
Sure I collect a bunch of NECA/McFarlane/DC stuff, but that's around 7", and doesn't mesh in any sense of the word with the 6" Star Wars stuff. So I haven't bought a single 6" SW figure. I'll admit they look cool, but I'm just not interested in starting over my many-thousand figure 3.75" collection at 1:12 scale. For me Star Wars is just as much about the vehicles and creatures as it is about the people, and the 6" line isn't going to have that in the same way.
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Without a doubt what Jeff said is how I live life. Hell, even other toy lines I collect have to be in the same general scale. Even model building has to be close to it. I didn’t even realize really they were trying to make the two scales compliment one another. That’s honestly obscene to me. 🤢 🤮
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I'm at the point where older 3.75" figures piss me off, so I'm pretty adamant about scale being as close as possible. For instance, why is the Max Rebo band so damn big? Droopy McCool is a tiny little muppet, but his POTF2 figure is a bruiser. I really liked the move to more accurate relative scale between figures—I remember when Han and Leia were almost the same height during the 90s—but we have a lot of legacy stuff to fix. So with that in mind, the idea of 6" complimenting classic scale is ridiculous and seems more like an attempt to get classic scale collectors to cross over.
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Oh I’d totally take new Rebo Band all around. Max Rebo is supposed to be completely reversed even... it’s a mess.
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Wait...do you mean the fact that Max Rebo is supposed to be playing with his feet, or do you mean they're removing the crappy 90's cgi scene?
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Playing with his feet! I’d kinda like that fixed now that I know about it haha.
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Playing with his feet! I’d kinda like that fixed now that I know about it haha.
Yeah, Kenner got it wrong and everyone has just gone with it for a long long time. Good read if you have never seen this one before:
https://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-mysteries-getting-to-the-bottom-of-max-rebo
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I want that. With a little articulation we could have a proper Max Rebo!
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As a guy who doesn't do a ton of gaming anymore, I'm conflicted on these.
I just can't get excited about the idea of paying $15 for a single Battle Droid repaint, the 3rd (or 4th?) try at the 'phased' Trooper from TFU, or even a Scout Trooper repack with a new harness and electrostick.
I guess maybe I'm finally getting too old for this ****. :-\
Well, I finally caved and pre-ordered the two Imperial Troopers (Shadow Stormtrooper and Scout Trooper) because at the end of the day I guess I can't resist OT trooper sculpts.
Still going to pass on the Battle Droid repaint and the Electricboogalo Purge Guy though. :P
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I’m real into the scouts from Fallen Order. Feel like they work on a lotta levels. I’m easy I guess. The shadow trooper bores me though, and I just don’t like battle droids much I guess.
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I received the Shador Scout today from Entertainment Earth and I did a review/comparison to the previous version.
Check it out here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55o2vvU-BRs).
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I received the Shador Scout today from Entertainment Earth and I did a review/comparison to the previous version.
Check it out here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55o2vvU-BRs).
Nice! That does look better than the original release, but I'm just not a fan of the Shadow Stormtrooper concept overall. Still, good figure!
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I’m waiting on GS to **** or get off the pot on sending me the scouts I ordered and they charged me for a week or more ago. It’s kinda frustrating. I even got an email asking if I liked them... you nudniks didn’t even ship them yet!
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Great video, Matt. Looking at the new release versus the original TFU version, the difference in quality is like night and day. I would guess that this new Shadow Stormtrooper was built on the VC140 Stormtrooper buck. It seems like such a natural platform for doing a number of new varieties of Stormtroopers.
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Great video, Matt. Looking at the new release versus the original TFU version, the difference in quality is like night and day. I would guess that this new Shadow Stormtrooper was built on the VC140 Stormtrooper buck. It seems like such a natural platform for doing a number of new varieties of Stormtroopers.
Thanks for watching Nick! The new Shadow Stormtrooper is using the Rogue One Stormtrooper (VC140) mold. Honestly, they can reuse and repaint that trooper to the end of time and I'll buy it. The only improvements they could make is add a holster (for OT troopers) and rocker ankles!
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Great video, Matt. Looking at the new release versus the original TFU version, the difference in quality is like night and day. I would guess that this new Shadow Stormtrooper was built on the VC140 Stormtrooper buck. It seems like such a natural platform for doing a number of new varieties of Stormtroopers.
Thanks for watching Nick! The new Shadow Stormtrooper is using the Rogue One Stormtrooper (VC140) mold. Honestly, they can reuse and repaint that trooper to the end of time and I'll buy it. The only improvements they could make is add a holster (for OT troopers) and rocker ankles!
It definitely seems like a no-brainer for Hasbro to use that mold for a couple of troopers in The Mandalorian - the Squad Leader and the Mortar Trooper, who were both in the battle on Tython in "The Tragedy".
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And shipped.
I wanna check out your video when I get some downtime Matt. That rifle is enticing me to order one maybe. It’s not a design I love, but that rifle looks new perhaps and I’m kinda interested now.
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I have orders in for all of the TVC Gaming Greats from EE. No shipping notices here. Two days ago I got an email with a delivery estimate around August for everything but the Electrostaff Purge Trooper (that said September). And when I checked my account online, the delivery estimate now says November. WTAF?
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All but my Purge Trooper will be here on Monday. Can't wait!
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I apparently have a Shadow Trooper in the mail from EE, but since they charge shipping for the full order and this is a partial order, it was over $30. I suppose the rest will ship for free eventually.
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I received my Scout Troopers from EE today and I really like them! I'm going to convert a bunch of them to normal Scout Troopers. I made a review and comparison video y'all can watch here. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYivtK1-Qm8)
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Not gonna lie, I’m miffed the scouts didn’t come with blasters. That was insanely cheap of them to omit the accessory he has a holster for. Otherwise I love it! If I had endless piles of scout pistols I’d care less than I do, but this really kinda blew.
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It didn't bother me that much since they don't use blasters in the game. Like you, I have plenty of extra blasters to equip them.
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I got a shipping notice from EE for my Purge Trooper back in April.
Looks like its going via a combo of DHL and USPS. Hopefully this will be more efficient and transparent than their SmartPost and other shipping methods that have taken 2-3 weeks.
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Yesterday I got shipping notices from Hasbro Pulse for a Shadow Trooper and Battle Droid, as well as EE for the Purge Trooper and Battle Droid. I'm looking forward to getting these, especially the Purge Trooper.
As always with EE's tracking it seems like the order is in limbo. This Pitney Bowes shipping arrangement might work for them as a business, but from a customer confidence standpoint it sucks. They generate USPS tracking information, but then the shipment disappears. For days on end you wind up wondering where the hell it is, and the tracking information has zero updates. When the tracking does update the shipment is in my state and scheduled to be delivered within a day or two. But it really does come across as pure nonsense.
It also seems that things have changed with Hasbro Pulse. Previously my orders were shipping from a fulfillment center in eastern Pennsylvania and they would arrive very quickly after I got the shipping notifications - very often on the next day. When I would have multiple items shipping at once they would very often be in individual shipping boxes. Hasbro must have become aware of how wasteful that was, because now multiple figures will ship in the same box. And the fulfillment center that is shipping out my orders is now in Atlanta. So much for next day service!
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I got shipping notices for my second Shadow Stormtrooper from Pulse and my Purge Trooper from EE. I pay extra on shipping for EE items mainly because Fed Ex ground is reliable. I'll be curious if who of us will be getting our items first. My stuff only has to get from California to Colorado and the tracking info said Monday.
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I find FedEx to be reliable, too. But the amount it adds to the overall bill is a bit much. The second tier up in EE's shipping options are very often well over $20 for me, sometimes closer to $30.
That has always been the main picking point that I have with EE. They are doing tremendous volume in retail sales, and they also act as a wholesaler. Other etailers like BBTS and Dorksidetoys do significant volume of sales (probabaly not as high as EE), but their shipping rates and services are also much more reasonable. It makes me wonder a couple of things about EE:
-Is Entertainment Earth building "handling" into their shipping prices? Meaning warehouse labor costs, shipping materials, etc, in addition to what the carrier charges
-Have they ever considered setting up a product fulfillment center that's more centrally located in the country? Or are they married to keeping their operation almost entirely in SoCal?
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-Is Entertainment Earth building "handling" into their shipping prices? Meaning warehouse labor costs, shipping materials, etc, in addition to what the carrier charges
I would say that is most certainly the case. They also guarantee Mint packaging, so they add more packing materials than others
-Have they ever considered setting up a product fulfillment center that's more centrally located in the country? Or are they married to keeping their operation almost entirely in SoCal?
I'm not 100% keyed in on their operations, but they do a lot of volume and are still a pretty small operation compared to other etailers. It might be out of reach for them to make a central operation center...at least at this time.
I'm not trying to be an EE apologist, but thought I might have some answers to your questions. Plus, I can't complain about how they've dealt with me as a customer. Any interactions I've had with their sales staff has been great! I can't say that for a lot of other places I've done business.
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It didn't bother me that much since they don't use blasters in the game. Like you, I have plenty of extra blasters to equip them.
I don’t have a ton of extra scout pistols so it does bother me some, plus it’s the epitome of cheap. No real excuse here for them to have done that on something so minor. Especially when the mold they used obviously came with the pistol so it was accessible. This is the kinda stuff I can’t let the company slide on. Just include the pistol.
My purges shipped also... we’ll see how and when they arrive. I’ve grown accustomed to not watching anything from EE ship since it’s so weird how it plays out. Last stuff I got came pretty quickly though and it always does eventually get here, so I’m just patient with it. Their shipping prices do suck comparatively speaking, but when it’s a big ticket thing from them with free shipping I can wait on that company they go through to get it to me eventually I guess. 🤷♂️
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I got a shipping notice from EE for my Purge Trooper back in April.
Looks like its going via a combo of DHL and USPS. Hopefully this will be more efficient and transparent than their SmartPost and other shipping methods that have taken 2-3 weeks.
Holy Snokes! My EE package (shipped via DHL and USPS) arrived in six days!?!?! And this was via their cheapest "super saver" option.
I sure hope this is the model going forward. I might actually consider buying figures from EE again if that is the case.
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My review of the Purge Trooper. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLEWT75lf3w)
I'm also working on a Gaming greats wish list type of video.
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I got the Shadow Trooper and Battle Droid on Saturday. Surprisingly, they both rode together in the same box!
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I got a shipping notice from EE for my Purge Trooper back in April.
Looks like its going via a combo of DHL and USPS. Hopefully this will be more efficient and transparent than their SmartPost and other shipping methods that have taken 2-3 weeks.
Holy Snokes! My EE package (shipped via DHL and USPS) arrived in six days!?!?! And this was via their cheapest "super saver" option.
I sure hope this is the model going forward. I might actually consider buying figures from EE again if that is the case.
Took words from my mouth. I only ordered this from EE as it was only choice that day. If this is their new shipping I'm back as a customer.
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Got my purge troopers. Kinda neat... two makes a nice team. The scouts are more cool to me, for some reason, but these are neat too. If only we had the guy the game is about. 🤷♂️
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I wound up pre-ordering all 4 and a few other figs from Old Republic Collectibles because of my snit with EE for not combining pre-orders to determine shipping. (Something like $30 for 6 figures!? And I think I know why they do that, but they can offer an option similar to BBTS' pile of loot.)
But I started to have doubts about ordering from ORC when even HasbroPulse, notorious for coming to the party late, started shipping out (minus the EE exclusive) and I hadn't heard a peep. But ORC pulled through. I got the notification on Sunday and the figures yesterday.
This was a good week for my toy world.
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Just got a notification from Hasbro Pulse that they are shipping me a Scout Trooper.
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I haven’t gotten an email, but I do have a pending charge for $15.99, which is almost definitely that.
Why is this figure $16??!?
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$14.99 and difference should be the tax.
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Yeah, but all this other stuff is $12.99 plus tax… they floated a few at $13.99 which seems like a normal, maybe permanent price change…
Then there’s this guy, $14.99 plus tax direct from Hasbro.
The Gamorrean Guard at $14.99 I kind of get… What’s special about the Scout Trooper?
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What’s special about the Scout Trooper?
$13.99 is the new retail price; $15.99 will probably be the new fan channel price going forward. A bit higher price thanks to the lower manufacturing run numbers.
If you look at pulse, you should see these new prices reflected on most of the figures there.
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My backup pre-order for the Gaming Greats from HasbroPulse came to $16.45 for each of the 3 they carry. Now that retail moved up to $15.99 -- in line with the $15.99 EE was charging for the Purge Trooper -- I'm looking at $17.55 w/ tax for future Fan Channel figs. :'(
On top of the lower prod numbers, some of the price increases are tied to the added costs of importing because of the congestion at China and US ports, and I expect hope we'll see prices go down a bit when dock operations normalize.
I found this article a few days ago about the backlog in the US.
https://californianewstimes.com/record-breaking-44-container-ships-are-anchored-off-the-coast-of-california/505698/
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On top of the lower prod numbers, some of the price increases are tied to the added costs of importing
Yeah, lower production number explains the price difference between retail and fan-channel items. Shipping is definitely the big culprit for the recent $1 hike in the MSRP for TVC and the hikes in Black Series too.
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Revealed at today's "Bring Home the Bounty" (https://www.starwars.com/bring-home-the-bounty/week-11) - three new Gaming Greats ARC Trooper repaints from Battlefront II.
Pre-order tomorrow, 12/22, at 10am PT / 1pm ET. Sounds like these are "Fan Channel" exclusives (EE, BBTS, Dorkside, etc). $15.99
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FHI0F8SXMAASOzG.jpg) (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FHI0F8NXsAAujzO.jpg) (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FHI0F8OXMAQa4xB.jpg)
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There's an ARC Trooper in Pittsburgh Steelers colors?
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:-\
I mean, I guess this is a pretty good use of repainting and repacking. But it would be nice if something from this Gaming Greats line wasn’t a rehash / repaint / kit-bash at a 15% markup.
Like, sprinkle in Cal Kestis or something…
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Like, sprinkle in Cal Kestis or something…
I've covered this before in other threads, but the current Hasbro team's "what can we do with the parts we have to pretend we're world building" thinking is really getting stale.
It's dumb to have Battlefront II troopers without Iden Versio. It's dumb to have JFO Purge Tooper and Shock Scouts without Cal Kestis. It's dumb to have Sith Trooper and Sith Jetpack Trooper without TROS Palpatine. But Hasbro just goes, "Meh - troopers repaints sell" and here we are.
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But Hasbro just goes, "Meh - troopers repaints sell" and here we are.
**L A Z Y**
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Like, sprinkle in Cal Kestis or something…
I've covered this before in other threads, but the current Hasbro team's "what can we do with the parts we have to pretend we're world building" thinking is really getting stale.
It's dumb to have Battlefront II troopers without Iden Versio. It's dumb to have JFO Purge Tooper and Shock Scouts without Cal Kestis. It's dumb to have Sith Trooper and Sith Jetpack Trooper without TROS Palpatine. But Hasbro just goes, "Meh - troopers repaints sell" and here we are.
THIS!
I think a lot of people who follow The Vintage Collection closely understand some of the elements at work with reusing sculpts from existing figures. But at some point you have to throw in the odd NEW character / sculpt in order to lend some legitimacy to the Gaming Greats sub-line. Hasbro has to start factoring in at least ONE new sculpt in each of these Gaming Greats waves. At least so that it doesn't look so blatantly obvious that they're just repainting an old sculpt and calling it something else.
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Same exact thing with the Walmart clone wars repaints. Perfect opportunity to mix old and new and make it actually exciting with 2 or 3 new figures to go with all those repaints.
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I agree with y'all that I would like to see a Cal Kestis or Iden Versio, or even some of the KOTOR II Characters that haven't been made.
On the bright side, it looks like they are using the Arc Troopers from the 3 pack.
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Just getting wind of the exclusive status on these:
ARC Trooper (Lambent Seeker) - FAN CHANNEL
ARC Trooper (Umbra Operative) - ENTERTAINMENT EARTH
ARC Trooper (red markings) - BIG BAD TOY STORE
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Like, sprinkle in Cal Kestis or something…
I've covered this before in other threads, but the current Hasbro team's "what can we do with the parts we have to pretend we're world building" thinking is really getting stale.
It's dumb to have Battlefront II troopers without Iden Versio. It's dumb to have JFO Purge Tooper and Shock Scouts without Cal Kestis. It's dumb to have Sith Trooper and Sith Jetpack Trooper without TROS Palpatine. But Hasbro just goes, "Meh - troopers repaints sell" and here we are.
THIS!
I think a lot of people who follow The Vintage Collection closely understand some of the elements at work with reusing sculpts from existing figures. But at some point you have to throw in the odd NEW character / sculpt in order to lend some legitimacy to the Gaming Greats sub-line. Hasbro has to start factoring in at least ONE new sculpt in each of these Gaming Greats waves. At least so that it doesn't look so blatantly obvious that they're just repainting an old sculpt and calling it something else.
The troopers are nice looking... but I 100% agree. While I like the look of these, I may skip them this time... Especially with the price markup. Regular price I probably wouldn't hesitate as much.
There are so many other good ORIGINAL characters from SW gaming history they could use and mix-in. Even just one new figure per wave and leaving the rest as re-painted/packed army builders as Nick said would be a vast improvement. But I'd love an all new wave or two every now and then to keep the line legitimate. My short(ish) list (leaving out KOTOR for now in hopes that remake will have some new figures later):
Wave 3 - Jedi Fallen Order #1
- *NEW* - Cal Kestis & BD-1
- *Repack/Repaint* - Purge Trooper Commander (https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/starwarsjedifallenorder/images/9/9b/Purge_Troopers_%28Commander%29.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/350?cb=20191118212707)
- *Repack/Repaint* - Rocket Launcher Stormtrooper (https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/starwarsjedifallenorder/images/f/ff/Rocket_Launcher_Stormtroopers.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/350?cb=20191117044840)
- *Repack/Repaint* - KX-Series Security Droid
Wave 4 - Jedi Fallen Order #2 - ALL NEW WAVE
- *NEW* - Second Sister
- *NEW* - Cere Junda
- *NEW* - Greez w/ Bogling
- *NEW* - Night Sister Merrin
Wave 5 - Jedi Fallen Order #3
- *NEW* - General Jaro Tapal
- *Retool/Repaint* - Night Brother Warrior (2008 TLC Darth Maul Evolutions Repaint/slight Retool)
- *Repack/Repaint* - 13th Battalion Clone Trooper (Jaro Tapal's Troopers) (https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/starwarsjedifallenorder/images/5/52/Clone_Trooper.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/564?cb=20191120000255)
- *Repack/Repaint* - Heavy Assault Stormtrooper (https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/starwarsjedifallenorder/images/c/c1/Heavy_Assault_Stormtroopers.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/947?cb=20191117045946)
Wave 6 - Battlefront II
- *NEW* - Iden Versio - Imperial Inferno Gear
- *Retool* - Super Battle Droid (VTC 37 / 30AC Retool with added IG-11 style articulation to legs and wrists)
- *New Headsculpt / Retool* - Del Meeko - Pilot Gear (https://i.pinimg.com/474x/a9/6c/a5/a96ca58929259435a23f6aa066b4d67a.jpg) (TBS Dutch Vander repaint with new Headsculpt)
- *New Headsculpt / Retool* - Admiral Garrick Versio - (TVC Tarkin retool with new Headsculpt - would also take an all new version that could later be used for other officers)
Wave 7 - Squadrons / BF II
- *NEW* - General Hera Syndula
- *Retool/Repaint* - Havina Vonreg - TIE Pilot (VC65 retool with new head sculpt & added hip/leg/ankle articulation
- *Repack/Repaint* - Feresk Tssat (TBS Dutch Vander repaint with new Headsculpt)
- *Repack/Repaint* - Republic Commando (All White)
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This **** is just getting old.
Clone repaints that are identical tooling. There isn't a single unique piece among the three. Well, that should make them cheap anyways. Nope, not even regular price, but premium pricing of $16.
And fan channel exclusives, so we have to include shipping since there's no chance to find them at retail. Well, at least we can bundle them up to earn free shipping somewhere. Oops, except each one is exclusive to a different outlet.
Yeah, in the end these wind up costing just as much as last week's Boba Fett.
If it's going to be $25 per figure, I don't want reused parts and Clone repaints. I want a goddamn Ranat and a Jabba's Palace Ishi Tib. (I don't begrudge anyone their video game lead character either, at this point, it's just that I don't know anything beyond Masters of Teras Kasi.)
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Just getting wind of the exclusive status on these:
ARC Trooper (Lambent Seeker) - FAN CHANNEL
ARC Trooper (Umbra Operative) - ENTERTAINMENT EARTH
ARC Trooper (red markings) - BIG BAD TOY STORE
Nothing like having to chase figures across a bunch of different sites... ::)
Here are some links - not active until tomorrow...
ARC Trooper (red markings) - BBTS - https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/VariationDetails/187972
ARC Trooper (Umbra Operative) - EE - https://www.entertainmentearth.com/product/hsf6253?id=JE-405087801 #sponsored #affiliatelink
ARC Trooper (Lambent Seeker) - EE - https://www.entertainmentearth.com/product/hsf6254?id=JE-405087801 #sponsored #affiliatelink
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This **** is just getting old.
Clone repaints that are identical tooling. There isn't a single unique piece among the three. Well, that should make them cheap anyways. Nope, not even regular price, but premium pricing of $16.
And fan channel exclusives, so we have to include shipping since there's no chance to find them at retail. Well, at least we can bundle them up to earn free shipping somewhere. Oops, except each one is exclusive to a different outlet.
Yeah, in the end these wind up costing just as much as last week's Boba Fett.
If it's going to be $25 per figure, I don't want reused parts and Clone repaints. I want a goddamn Ranat and a Jabba's Palace Ishi Tib. (I don't begrudge anyone there video game lead character either, at this point, it's just that I don't know anything beyond Masters of Teras Kasi.)
Oooff. The split shipping costs didn't even occur to me, I have just gotten so used to free shipping with Amazon. $25 each (including shipping) is absolutely not worth it for these guys. I'm going to pass on them, they really aren't worth that much to me. Maybe Tunghori will get some cheaper loose versions in down the road.
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Well, at least we can bundle them up to earn free shipping somewhere. Oops, except each one is exclusive to a different outlet.
Oooff. The split shipping costs didn't even occur to me
If you are really looking to save on shipping, BBTS might be the best bet. BBTS usually buys the EE exclusives via EE's wholesale business, but you'll likely pay a $2 markup for the EE figure if you go that route (that is what BBTS did for the EE Purge Trooper - $16 at EE (https://www.entertainmentearth.com/product/hsf2709?id=JE-405087801) vs. $18 at BBTS (https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/VariationDetails/158367)).
I can see BBTS charging $16 for the regular fan channel ARC, $16-18 for their exclusive ARC (I can see them adding $1-2 markup because they can), and then $18 for EE's ARC Trooper (wholesale markup).
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Between the $30 Boba Fett and having to pay $15.99 each plus shipping from three different sites for these, I’m probably more annoyed with Hasbro than I’ve been in a very long time. This is so dumb.
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What is Hasbro's motivation to having fan channel exclusives at retailers like BBTS?
I get exclusives via Target, Wal-Mart, and Amazon, but does BBTS really sell that much Hasbro stuff? This is going to be a pain.
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Just getting wind of the exclusive status on these:
ARC Trooper (Lambent Seeker) - FAN CHANNEL
ARC Trooper (Umbra Operative) - ENTERTAINMENT EARTH
ARC Trooper (red markings) - BIG BAD TOY STORE
Nothing like having to chase figures across a bunch of different sites... ::)
Here are some links - not active until tomorrow...
ARC Trooper (red markings) - BBTS - https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/VariationDetails/187972
ARC Trooper (Umbra Operative) - EE - https://www.entertainmentearth.com/product/hsf6253?id=JE-405087801 #sponsored #affiliatelink
ARC Trooper (Lambent Seeker) - EE - https://www.entertainmentearth.com/product/hsf6254?id=JE-405087801 #sponsored #affiliatelink
Done, easy. Thanks for the links Jeff. Being able to get two of them at EE helped a little, and one was only $13.99... I was expecting $15.99 per?
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I used the affiliate links, too. Thanks Jeff!
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Same here. Thanks again Jeff!
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Got them all.
BBTS was $4 shipping. Gamestop was $3 for a Black Series figure.
Entertainment Earth is a little over $10. Man I hate that place and its shipping.
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I skipped the Black Series figure.
A friend of mine is placing both of our BBTS orders. I ordered the Umbra Op ARC and the Lambent Seeker via EE. We're going to split the shipping expenses so that it's a little less painful.
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Like, sprinkle in Cal Kestis or something…
I've covered this before in other threads, but the current Hasbro team's "what can we do with the parts we have to pretend we're world building" thinking is really getting stale.
It's dumb to have Battlefront II troopers without Iden Versio. It's dumb to have JFO Purge Tooper and Shock Scouts without Cal Kestis. It's dumb to have Sith Trooper and Sith Jetpack Trooper without TROS Palpatine. But Hasbro just goes, "Meh - troopers repaints sell" and here we are.
THIS!
I think a lot of people who follow The Vintage Collection closely understand some of the elements at work with reusing sculpts from existing figures. But at some point you have to throw in the odd NEW character / sculpt in order to lend some legitimacy to the Gaming Greats sub-line. Hasbro has to start factoring in at least ONE new sculpt in each of these Gaming Greats waves. At least so that it doesn't look so blatantly obvious that they're just repainting an old sculpt and calling it something else.
I got into three different “fights” with people on Reddit (and downvoted to oblivion) for expressing this same opinion. Their arguments basically boiled down to “shut up and buy the repaints then get excited to buy the next round of repaints” line that the Disney super fans love to spout off. Sorry for having standards I guess.
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Not a fan of the "Shut up and like it" mentality. Understanding the rationale behind Hasbro's decision making process is one thing. But when they make bone-headed decisions, like not including the main character of a video game in an action figure sub-line, they need to expect some criticism.
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Separate issue: The BBTS website was NOT up to the challenge of handling all of this traffic today. The friend I was ordering with had major problems with the BBTS, and when he let me know about it, I tried too. The site must have been slammed! My cart got emptied a few times before I could finally place the order. I got an order confirmation number and saw the order listed in my account. Confirmation emails? Not yet.
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Entertainment Earth is a little over $10. Man I hate that place and its shipping.
Yeah, the price keeps going up and the service quality keeps decreasing. :-\
Separate issue: The BBTS website was NOT up to the challenge of handling all of this traffic today.
Yeah, my check-out at BBTS was really slow. Slow to open the link, slow to add to cart, slow to check-out. I can see the order listed in my account but I have not gotten an email confirmation yet either.
Being able to get two of them at EE helped a little, and one was only $13.99... I was expecting $15.99 per?
Looks like they fixed that oopsie as that one is now showing the $15.99 price too.
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My EE order still has the Lambent Seeker for $13.99. I wonder if an email about a price adjustment is going to be headed my way?
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It’d be pretty crummy if they price adjusted in that direction.
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Separate issue: The BBTS website was NOT up to the challenge of handling all of this traffic today.
Yeah, my check-out at BBTS was really slow. Slow to open the link, slow to add to cart, slow to check-out. I can see the order listed in my account but I have not gotten an email confirmation yet either.
Just got my order confirmation email from BBTS for the ARC Trooper.
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BBTS pricing for the Battlefront II ARC Trooper and the Lambent Seeker bumped up to $16.99. I'm guessing EE and BBTS instituted something akin to demand pricing.
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Entertainment Earth is a little over $10. Man I hate that place and its shipping.
Yeah, the price keeps going up and the service quality keeps decreasing. :-\
(http://)
I added the two on EE to my cart along with a Bo Katan and two in stock battle droids to try and qualify for the "Free" super-saver shipping.
Super-saver knocked off all of $1.82. And the Fed-ex options START at $40. That absolutely ridiculous. :o ::)
These are still sitting in my cart...
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Today's TVC Gaming Greats reveals:
Fan Channel exclusive; Pre-Order 4/7 at 1pm ET:
- Shae Visla (new head w/photo-real deco)
- Lando Calrissian (new Battlefront II - Tropical Deco)
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Hooray. :-\
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This Lando gives me some hope for more TVC figures from SOLO, since this is Lando’s outfit from the sabbac game on Numidian Prime at the end of the movie.
Shae Vizsla is definitely welcome. This is yet another one of the most expensive TVC 1.0 figures on the secondary market that Hasbro is revisiting. I’ve got one of the originals loose, but kicked myself for not getting another one to keep carded. This release solves that, to a degree. But I’m also wondering how many people are beside themselves because these reissue figures no doubt impact the secondary market prices.
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I'm excited for the Shae Visla...the Lando is nice, but would rather he be a Solo release and give me some hope for a TVC Rio, Val, L3 and Beckett.
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The new Vizla face sculpt reminds me of Karen Gillan. Thumbs up on the improved head movement and look. Gonna buy a couple, one to display with the helmet and the other with the new noggin.
Years ago someone was selling casts of the original head. For those who missed out, now it's possible to get a substitute of the first release relatively cheap.
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I'm excited for the Shae Visla...the Lando is nice, but would rather he be a Solo release and give me some hope for a TVC Rio, Val, L3 and Beckett.
I'm happy to have this Lando on any card. I think its funny that some people don't dig this version of Lando. This is the most Lando Lando that ever Landoed. I think he's totally rad.
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I'm happy to have this Lando on any card. I think its funny that some people don't dig this version of Lando. This is the most Lando Lando that ever Landoed. I think he's totally rad.
Plus THIS is the version of Lando that lost the Falcon to Han. As a Han Solo fanboy, I'm very happy they made this guy, even if he's under the BFII Gaming Greats card.
Lando is nice, but would rather he be a Solo release and give me some hope for a TVC Rio, Val, L3 and Beckett.
I hope one day we do get TVC versions of the Solo crew - Dyrden Vos, Beckett, Rio, Val, QiRa, etc. Of course it's 6 years later and they are still working on completing the Rogue One TVC versions (Baze, Bohdi, Krennic) so I guess I shouldn't hold my breath for more Solo stuff anytime soon. :(
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Available for pre-order tomorrow beginning at 1:00pm ET at the usual fan channel outlets.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR6_CO4XIAE1W62.jpg) (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR6_CPVXIAANzl5.jpg)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR6_CPqXEAAX3lt.jpg) (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR6_CQHXEAArelf.jpg)
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I'm impressed. This Stormtrooper Commander makes the 30th Anniversary Collection release look like trash in comparison. And it looks like this is the updated Stormtrooper mold with the rocker ankles.
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I'm glad for those who will enjoy this stuff, but I'm not impressed at all. I'm so sick of Stormtroopers and Clones.
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I'm glad for those who will enjoy this stuff, but I'm not impressed at all. I'm so sick of Stormtroopers and Clones.
I feel the fatigue, too. I can appreciate the good execution on these, but I think the character choices across all of the lines have been transparent as Hasbro tries to maximize the return on their tooling investments.
Gaming Greats needs to change in order to live up to its name. It was nice to see Hasbro reissue Shae Viszla. By that same token, at least regarding game characters as reissues, what about Galen Marek? Darth Malgus could benefit from an update.
New blood is definitely needed on the character front. It's stunning that the main character from Jedi Fallen Order has still not even been announced, but the troopers that he fights have been in collector's hands for months.
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Eh. They look nice and I'll buy 2-3 of each... but I'd much rather have had a Cal Kestis or some other NEW character and figure.
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EE charged me for the Umbra Operative and Lambent Seeker, so I guess these are starting to go out too.
I swear all this stuff must have been on the same ship...
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I got a shipping notification from EE for the Umbra Operative ARC Trooper. But the Lambent Seeker ARC Trooper is still pending.
And I've seen no indication that the BBTS exclusive ARC Trooper is shipping soon.
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I got a shipping notification from EE for the Umbra Operative ARC Trooper. But the Lambent Seeker ARC Trooper is still pending.
And I've seen no indication that the BBTS exclusive ARC Trooper is shipping soon.
Ditto for me - Umbra shipped, no movement on the other two yet.
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That box just got here, only the Umbra Operative was in it. So same story as you guys, but I thought I got charged for both... I'll have to go check.
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I guess after all of the times I have complained and used their "mint condition guarantee" I must be at the absolute bottom of the list for items shipping out - I am pretty sure I ordered the Umbra Operative and Lambent Seeker figures on the day preorders opened up and my order is still showing as "Coming in July 2022" >:(
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I just checked, EE did send two boxes. The second one is supposed to get here on June 7.
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Got my Umbra ARC guy today. Popped over to check EE and my Lambent Seeker ARC guy says due August 2022. BBTS still says my BFII ARC guy is due June 2022.
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Popped over to check EE and my Lambent Seeker ARC guy says due August 2022.
Just got a shipping notice for my Lambent Seeker ARC. Hooray for stuff arriving sooner than expected (even though it's still later than it was supposed to be :P).
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Mine got here four or five days ago.
At the end of the day it’s just a repainted ARC Trooper, so in my mine there’s nothing too exciting to report.
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Just got an email from BBTS about the last ARC Trooper in the Red... apparently it's arrived and is shipping soon.
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It looks like EE is processing my order for the Gaming Greats Lando and Shae Vizsla. Curious to see both of these in person.
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I got my Lando from EE today. Makes me happy anytime I get something Donald Glover related.
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Pulse says my Shae Viszla is coming soon, nothing on the others (Lando, TFU Stormie, Heavy Stormie) yet though.
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Yup, I got that email too. I was a bit surprised. I had just looked at knocker the other day and it it sadi expected in October.
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More action on the Gaming Greats front. I checked my EE account and found that the Stormtrooper Commander from TFU is now processing. But I didn't see any indication that the Heavy Assault Stormtrooper from Jedi - Fallen Order is processing yet.
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Got my Shae Vizla from Pulse yesterday and the resculpted head is a HUGE improvement over the original. I have seen a lotta folks use it on the TBS Mara Jade. It gives me hope Hasbro will make a smart call and give Mara the same treatment. Would love to see her on a TVC card.
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CC got hit last night for the Gaming Greats Stormtroopers from Hasbro Pulse - Heavy Assault and TFU Commander. Happy to have new stuff flowing into the collection at a more regular pace these days.